


The Time Lord's Apprentice

by SincerelyGallifrey



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Adopted, Angst, Best Friends, Doctor Who Spoilers, Doctor who seres five onwards, Eleventh Doctor Era, Enemies to Friends, Everyone Is Gay, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Half Time Lord, Half-Human, No Romance, No Smut, Original Character(s), Pansexual Character, So much angst, The Master's Daughter, Time Travel, Twelfth Doctor Era, U.N.I.T - Freeform, doctor who oc - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 50
Words: 305,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26535889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SincerelyGallifrey/pseuds/SincerelyGallifrey
Summary: "But, you're impossible!""Yeah, and the world is ending, I don't think now is the time."Peyton is an orphan, taken from her mother as an infant by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. She is raised separately from other children because she is special, she shouldn't even exist. Her mother, the human known as Lucy Saxon and her father, the Time Lord known as the Master.But the walls of UNIT are getting too small for a genius six-year-old.No romance just aliens and explosions.--- feel free to point out mistakes, especially continuity ones, I love constructive criticism and want to make my stories as good as they can be ------ copyright- the only thing in this novel that belongs to me is the character of Peyton and her personal story arcs ------ ATTENTION: As of March 2nd, 2021, this story is on tentative hiatus. I fully intended to return to this story as soon as possible, however I have decided that due to writer's block, I would rather put out quality chapters than regular ones, so don't feel discouraged to read because of this ---
Relationships: Amy Pond/Rory Williams, Clara Oswin Oswald/Danny Pink, The Doctor/River Song
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. The Girl That Never Should Have Been

Peyton wakes to the sound of knocking on metal, a sound that heralds the start of every new day for her.

"Mhmm," she groans, still groggy with sleep as she is ripped from her strange and vivid dreams.

The sleepy six-year-old stretches under her covers, shaking off the comfort of sleep and her fantastical dreams.

Such beautiful sights visit her every night. Visions of stars and galaxies dance before her as she reaches out her small hands to touch them.

"Good morning, Peyton," Donovan smiles, poking his head around the door, holding her breakfast tray. Andrew Donovan is the child's favourite adult, not that she knows many. He serves as her primary carer and teacher, and perhaps the only person who truly listens to her.

"Did you get Lucky Charms?" She asks hopefully, quickly scrambling out of the little bed and across the room to sit at the little table under the window sill, looking out into the courtyard of the Tower of London. The view is all Payton has ever known, high up from the tiny men and women in suits walking around down there.

"No, Lucky Charms aren't good for a growing lady like you," he smiles as he places the bowl of Corn Flakes on the Winnie the Pooh placemat.

She frowns, disappointed. Six years old and never has she tasted the sugary goodness of Lucky Charms. Well, she assumes they are good. Anything with that many colours should taste excellent. She grabs the spoon and digs around grumpily at the bland cereal, filling her empty stomach, and trying not to spill anything on her pink flannel pyjamas. With her other hand, she plays with her messy braids Donovan had woven into her hair yesterday.

"Alright, get dressed and ready for your lessons," he picks up the bowl as soon as she places it back down after slurping the leftover milk up, leaving a thin line of white on her upper lip which causes Donovan to laugh, wiping at it with a cloth,

She nods obediently, sliding off the chair and running toward the small closet by her bed.

She doesn't have much, however, it only takes a day for clothes she wears to reappear in her closet after wearing them so there is never any shortage. She pulls out a pale green dress, one of her favourites. She admires the pretty lace collar and swishes the dress in front of her to see the fabric dance.

Just faintly, Peyton can hear the morning bustle of London beyond her stone tower. The cars and busses rumble and honk along the busy streets beyond the perimeters of U.N.I.T headquarters. The sound ignites her imagination. What would it be like to be out there? Going to school with other kids, playing in a real park.

She asked Donovan once if she could go to a proper school, it's all she wanted. He shook his head with a small smile. He told her that she was so very special, she was so much smarter than kids her age. This place was what was best for her.

• • •

Her feet swing, just brushing the grass as she sits at the wooden desk in the garden, looking toward the sky, not paying attention to the lesson at hand.

It's a Saturday. Kids don't have lessons on Saturdays. If only she was at a park, with swings, and a climbing wall, and a big curly slide. Not here, learning about boring things.

"Peyton, Peyton!" Donovan calls her back to reality. She looks down at the textbook in front of her with the incredibly riveting title of 'A-Level Physics.' "Look, we are breaking protocol by letting you have lessons outside but can you please pay attention."

"Why can't I just go to a park, like a real kid. There's one not far from here is there, I saw it when you were showing me the maps, just for an hour or two please," she begs. He looks at her and sighs. He gets down on one knee to be on her level. She hates it when adults do that.

"You're here so we can keep you safe, you know that right?" He looks into her eyes as if searching for something. She nods tentatively. Something was off about him today. His eyes are too sad, he looks at her with a deep frown whenever he thought she couldn't see.

"But-"

"No buts, how about you choose what we learn about for the rest of the day, what about that."

"Can you tell me more about, you know, the secret stuff. Like who my dad was and why I'm special," she asks hopefully.

"You know I'm not to cleared tell you anything- "

She looks at him, pleading with her eyes, the way she knows melts his heart and gets him to do almost anything, or at least compromises.

"I don't know much anyway," he concedes.

"Please."

"Okay," he sits on both his knees and looks around to make sure no one is nearby.

"Your father wasn't a very nice man." This she knew. Two years ago the adults began telling her things, little by little, mostly because she wouldn't stop asking questions. "And he wasn't human, he was an alien." Again, old news. "He was from the planet Gallifrey, a long way away from here. And on this planet lived a race called the Time Lords." He pauses, as if waiting for her to respond. She doesn't.

"He was one of the last of his kind. He and another man survived."

"Who is he?" She asks excitedly. No one has mentioned someone like her father before. It's always just 'your father's evil' this, and 'your father is gone' that.

"His name is the Doctor," he looks down ashamed of breaking orders.

"Why can't he raise me? He can teach me about lots of stuff, he's clever like me isn't he?"

"He is very clever but," he looks at her apologetically. "The Doctor brings violence and danger wherever he goes. It would be cruel to leave a child in his care. The best place for you is boring old, safe Earth."

She nods sadly, coming to terms with her sentence.

"So I have to stay here until I am grown?"

"We're protecting you, I just hope you know that." She doesn't respond, looking back down at her textbook, not really reading it.

• • •

She walks down the white halls, Donovan behind her. She keeps trying to tell them she doesn't need an escort, thank you very much, but they keep insisting.

She purses her lips cynically as U.N.I.T workers pass her and smile like they're her friend. No one here is her friend. Donovan maybe, but she wants a real friend. A kid her age. Someone to play with, and not chess or word puzzles. She wants to play hide and seek, she wants to scramble over playgrounds and parks, to be free.

And that's when something snaps in her brain and the only impulse running through her body is to turn on her heel and sprint. And that's what she does.

Adrenaline running through her veins, she sprints through the white halls, the layout of the building perfectly mapped in her head from years of walking its halls. She doesn't know where she is running to but there are three exits nearby, unfortunately, all heavily guarded. That could be a problem.

She hears alarms blaring and footsteps behind her. By all logic she should have been snatched up by now, she's barely four feet tall while these guardsmen are all at least six. Even with her special abilities, Donovan keeps telling her about, it is amazing that no one has caught up to her yet.

Never the less, she pushes these concerns aside and rounds a corner and sees a set of double doors, unguarded. She runs toward them arms, outstretched to push them open.

Quickly, she dives behind a large object that has a small gap behind it that she fits in comfortably. Her chest heaving, body still surging with chemicals, she looks around at surroundings and it dawns on her where she is.

The holding store. A great big garage that U.N.I.T stores all the alien technology they have not yet checked and logged to be put into the Black Archives. That's when she sees it, the open black suitcase, inside it. A Vortex Manipulator. The doors burst open again and a flood of scientists and guards run in, looking around frantically.

"Is there anything in here that is harmful or that could aid her escape?" An angry-looking guard barks at a weedy scientist.

"N-no, but-" she is cut off.

"Right then, she's either hiding or has already run through," he decides.

"You lot, sweep the area, the rest of you, onwards with me." The sound of heavy boots slowly moves away and through an unseen doorway.

She makes herself as small as possible, wishing she wore something a little darker rather than the pale green dress. She can hear her double pulse in her skull as she listens for footsteps coming closer. She soon realises they all are searching in the same area together instead of spreading out. She almost laughs but knowing the situation she bites her lip.

The footsteps and murmurs soften and she risks peaking out of her hiding spot. The scientists were tasked with checking the area and currently, they were inspecting some sort of alien quad bike. Peyton glances back to the Vortex Manipulator. It could be her ticket out of here.

Donovan gave her a book that talked about Vortex manipulators in one chapter. How U.N.I.T acquired it, she has no idea as it was published in the year 5026.

She knows that if that thing still works, that if she hit the main button without entering in new coordinates it will reverse the last trip it took. She has no idea where it could be but it has to be better than here. Being cooped up without seeing the outside world for eighteen years and then going out with little to no social skills or awareness of the world around her. She plucks up her courage and races out from her hiding spot toward the table three meters away.

"Hey don't touch that," one of the scientists yells, causing all of them to turn around and sprint toward her but they are too far away. She wraps it around her wrist, as big as it may be and smiles triumphantly.

"Tell Donovan I'll miss him," Peyton screams and slams the button.

• • •

Peyton falls ungracefully into a bush, she scrambles to her feet it takes a second for her to regain her centre, her head spinning and her stomach a little sick.

She looks around with wonder. It worked. She is standing in a play park of all places by a road with real cars and real houses. She's free.

With a deep breath, Peyton smiles. At least she's on Earth.

A man on a bench stands up and throws a newspaper in the bin, before adjusting his suspenders and walking off. Peyton's watched plenty of movies to know what happens now. She runs over to the bin and fishes it out, scanning for the date.

22/07/1995 it reads. It's written in English, a British newspaper by the looks of the front-page article. She looks around for any signs or shop windows that might give away where exactly she's ended up. She walks down a street adjacent to the park and finds herself in front of a quaint little shop titled LEADWORTH BAKERY.

She pulls the Vortex manipulator off her wrist and throws it down a nearby drain, hopefully hiding it from the world.

A new life begins here for Peyton Saxon. Never to return to U.N.I.T, only to be free and maybe, just maybe, she'll meet this Doctor and he will take her to see the stars.


	2. Amelia's Raggedy Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a short little transition chapter, letting you know what dear little Peyton got up to after she landed in Leadworth. Get excited for the next chapter though, coming very soon where the master's daughter finally gets to meet the Doctor

"It's true I swear," Amelia insists. "It really happened."

"Blue boxes don't just fall out of the sky," Rory reasons.

"Well, I believe her," Peyton smiles.

Peyton has lived in the tiny town of Leadworth for little over six months. It had been suspiciously easy integrating herself into this new life.

No social services were called, of course, she didn't technically exist, and a family, the Barrett's, took her in with way too few questions. She was wary at first, it was all too perfect. For a day or two, she was convinced that this was U.N.I.T's doing but quickly reminded herself that she travelled nineteen years into the past, they couldn't have known. Donovan might have even been in high school. That's a weird thought.

But she loves her family. They watch telly together in the evenings while eating something sweet that her adoptive father, Lawerence, bakes, and her mother, Teresa, drives her and Amelia Pond to school every morning and plays songs from the eighties on a little, beat-up cassette. It's perfect.

She found herself next-door neighbours with the flame-haired Scottish girl who lives only with her aunt and the two young girls quickly became friends. Her friend she always dreamed of. They run around playgrounds on warm summer days and have sleepovers, curled up under the covers together, giggling about nothing in particular.

And it didn't take much longer for Amela to introduce her to Melody Zucker and Rory Williams, her two best friends and they quickly became Peyton's too.

Amelia, Rory, Melody and Peyton. The tight-knit band of seven-year-olds telling stories and having fun.

A couple of nights ago a strange man landed in Amelia's garden. As Amelia recounts the night, Peyton thinks at first that it is just some fanciful tale she invented, she lives next door and she didn't hear anything, fast asleep by the time a box from outer space landed in her backyard.

"His name is the Doctor, and besides, it's not a box, it's a time machine," she leans over threateningly to Rory.

The Doctor. That name. Peyton's eyes widen. He has to be, it's the only explanation. A real Time Lord, just like her father. So close to her, yet so far. She clenches her small fists in her lap, an attempt to remain secretive about her knowledge of the man, as little as it is.

She hasn't told anyone about her being half-alien, and she never will. Doctor's appointments are easy enough to avoid. No one needs to know about the two little hearts beating inside her chest.

"He promised me he'd be five minutes, but he must have got the times wrong. He'll be back soon though," Amelia says confidently.

"When he comes back can I meet him?" Melody asks.

"Me too," Peyton nods, with a large grin.

"Of course," Amelia smiles. "You can come too I guess," she nudges Rory.


	3. The Day the Doctor Returned to Leadworth

"See I told you," Rory takes another photo on his phone. "I'm not crazy."

"I never said you were," Peyton shakes her head, looking back up to the sun, which had turned a vibrant shade of orange. "But you have to show this to her, not wimp out like last time."

She looks across the park to the man and his dog, Rory insists that he cannot be here. The man, he's a patient in the coma ward. Strange.

"I did not wimp out," he glares at her.

Peyton laughs. "Whatever you say."

Twelve years ago, Peyton flung herself through time and space, landing in this little town of Leadworth. Travelling nineteen years into the past and about hundred miles north-west.

Today, it's a relatively warm summer's afternoon in 2008. Rory had called that morning for her to meet him in the park during his lunch break to tell her about something weird that had been going on at work. Amy and Mels, they just laugh Rory off, they are the more bombastic and outgoing pair while Peyton listens to Rory about his paranoid theories.

Lately, there has been more and more alien activity. London at Christmas was not a safe place anymore and strange things happening was becoming more common. Peyton follows every single event eagerly, looking for signs of the extraterrestrial race of her ancestry.

So when Rory mentions something strange happening, she was more than happy to accompany him. Strange things happening in Leadworth might just mean the Doctor could return, even if it has been twelve years since he first dropped from the sky in his Police Box.

Out of nowhere a man runs past and grabs Rory's phone. The act shocks Peyton who frowns as she watches him from behind as he studies the device curiously.

"The sun's going out and you two are photographing a man and a dog, why?" The man turns around and presses the phone back into Rory's hand. He's quite tall and the floppy mess of brown hair atop his hair looks hardly managed. His blue shirt is untucked and torn in several places with his black and white tie hanging loosely around his neck.

To make things weirder, Amy appears, apparently in one of her kissogram outfits, panting loudly.

"Amy," Rory gasps with a mixture of surprise and relief.

"Oh, ah. This is Rory and Peyton," Amy introduces. "They're, friends."

"Boyfriend," Rory corrects her with a silly tone of pride. Twelve years of being best friends. Mels and Peyton both agree this has been way too long coming.

"Kind of boyfriend," Amy interjects. Peyton raises an eyebrow which she shrugs at.

"Man and dog, why," the man insists, his eyes frantically racing, searching for something, looking both Peyton and Rory up and down.

Something clicks in Peyton's head. The scruffy outfit, the messy hair, his manic movements. "Oh my God, it's him," she stares. It's the Raggedy Doctor.

"It is, isn't it?" Rory adds.

"Just answer his question please," Amy sighs hurriedly.

"It's him though isn't it, the Doctor, the Raggedy Doctor," Rory continues.

"Yeah, he came back."

"But he was a story, he was a game-"

The Doctor leans forward and grabs Rory by the jacket to shut him up. "Man and dog, why? Tell me now."

"Sorry, because," Rory looks to Amy then to Peyton as if for support. "He, he can't be there, because, because-"

"He's in a hospital, in a coma," they both say at the same time.

"Yeah," Rory adds, a little pathetically.

"Knew it," The Doctor grins. "It's a Multiform you see." He steps back and wipes his hands on Rory's coat. "It can disguise itself as anything but it needs a live feed, a psychic life feed, it needs a living but dormant," he pokes both Rory and Peyton in the forehead simultaneously. "Mind."

She can't believe it. A broad smile breaks out across Peyton's face. After all these years. A real Time Lord, right in front of her, the Doctor no less. This was her ticket out of here, finally. No more dusting shelves at the old library, no more living at home. She could go and see the stars.

The dog starts barking again and the four of them whip their heads around. As Peyton looks closer, she is horrified to see that the man is the one snarling, his dog is silent.

The Doctor takes a few steps forward while the three Earthlings watch him with keen eyes.

"Prisoner Zero," he addresses the man, or creature, Peyton assumes as he called it a Multiform.

"What? There's a Prisoner Zero too?" Rory turns to Amy.

"Yes, apparently."

"Try to keep up, Rory," Peyton adds.

As if to make things worse a giant, star-like, what only could be identified as a spaceship descends into view with the largest blue eye she's ever seen. Now that is something new.

It initially reminds Peyton of the Christmas star from 2006, at least that ship didn't have a giant eyeball staring down at gathering crowd of townsfolk.

A spotlight beams down, despite it being broad daylight, the light still hurts her eyes.

"See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology," The Doctor starts across the park at Prisoner Zero. "And nothing, says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver." He pulls out a skinny silver device with a blue light on the end he points it up in the air and it begins to make an all too familiar sound to Peyton.

~~~four months ago~~~

Peyton watches in awe beside her mother as the creatures ascend into the sky. It was just meant to be a weekend trip to London but instead, she witnesses what can only be aliens. They're kinda cute.

Peyton looks around and a man in a brown trench coat catches her eye. He's the only one not staring up at the spectacle. She watches him fiddle with something small before throwing it in a nearby bin and walking off. Peyton slips away from her mother easily as she transfixed on the spectacle, muttering about how she was going to try those Adipose pills herself.

She peers into the bin and sees a sleek black pen, resting on top of a bundle of newspapers, thank God it's not something gross.

Peyton reaches in and removes it gently, looking around for any sign of the mysterious man.

The end of the pen is clear, as if it's made of glass. Peyton ran her finger over it and noticed a tiny button on the pen clip. She presses it and the end of the end lights up blue, emitting a high pitched buzzing noise as well. She pockets it to look at later.

~~~present day~~~

She never did. It must have rolled off her desk at home and fallen into the mess of paper and clothes. She reminds herself to ask him about it later.

The device in his hand seemingly starts to cause the street lights around the park to explode one by one with a shower of sparks. The cars too. Not blowing up, but their horns start blaring and windshield wipers pushing away nothing.

The nearby fire engine's siren goes off causing the three friends to jump and, driverless, it rolls forward, the firemen chasing after it.

"I think someone's gonna notice, don't you?" The Doctor states the obvious.

To this, the man starts barking again with the dog this time.

The Doctor lowers his arm and points it the instrument at a nearby telephone box which explodes with a cascade of sparks and the door almost flying off its hinges. Amy, Rory, and Peyton jump together as sparks reign down from the device and the Doctor drops it into the grass. He crouches down, picking its blackened remains up gingerly.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he yells, throwing it back down again. "Don't do that!"

Everyone looks up as the spacecraft turns around and flies out of sight. Obviously, the fireworks display did not catch its eye, get it?

"No! Come back, he's here," The Doctor yells at the sky. "Come back!"

The ship shows no sign that it can hear the alien's pleading.

"He's here!" He continues. "Prisoner Zero is here!"

Peyton looks over to Prisoner Zero, who now stands there smirking before dissolving into gold dust right in front of her eyes.

"Doctor!" Peyton grabs his arm. "The drain. It just sort of melted and went down the drain." She stares, wide-eyed at the spot where a few seconds ago the prisoner stood.

"Well, of course, it did," the Doctor says as if he was expecting it.

"What do we do know?" Amy asks with a frantic tone.

"It's hiding in human form," the Doctor explains. "We need to drive it into the open. No Tardis, no screwdriver, seventeen minutes, oh think, think!"

Peyton follows the Doctor as he heads toward the drain, keeping close to Amy and Rory as they inspect it. The Doctor crouches down as if looking for something.

"Is that a real alien?" Rory asks.

"Of course it was, a real alien who lived in Amelia's house for twelve years but why her?" He drifts off a bit at the end.

"What?" Peyton gasps, looking toward Amy.

"So that thing, that lived in my house for twelve years?" Amy asks, trying to keep a grip on reality.

"Multiforms can live for millennia, twelve years is a pit stop," the Doctor explains.

"So how come you show up again and the very same day that lot do the same, the same minute?" She questions.

"They're looking for him, but they followed me, they saw me through the crack, got a fix, they're only late because I am." Peyton eyes him carefully; she can almost see the cogs turning in his head, trying to configure a plan.

"What's he on about?" Rory speaks out, clearly tired of being left out.

"Nurse boy, give me your phone," the Doctor orders.

"How can he be real," Rory insists. "He was never real!"

"Phone now," the Doctor motions again. "Gimme," he snatches it off him.

"He was just a game." Peyton really wishes Rory would quit it now. "We were kids, you made me dress up as him," he points accusingly at Amy.

"These photos, they're all the coma patients," The Doctor interrupts.

"Yep," Peyton replies, taking initiative as Rory has evidently gone into shock.

"No, they're all the Multiform," the Doctor corrects, flicking through more of the photos. "Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero."

"He had a dog though, there's a dog in a coma?" Peyton raises an eyebrow.

"Well, the coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog. Laptop!" He yells suddenly. "Your friend had a laptop," he points at Amy. "Your friend what was his name, not him, the good looking one."

"Thanks," Rory rolls his eyes.

"Jeff," Amy answers.

"Oh thanks," Rory says a little louder earning a snicker from Peyton.

"He had a laptop in his bag, a laptop, big bag, big laptop. I need Jeff's laptop. You three," he wraps his arms around Amy and Peyton's shoulders, looking Rory in the eye. "Get to the hospital, get everyone out of that ward, clear the whole floor, phone me when you're done." And with that, he runs off.

"Your car," Amy grabs Rory's arm before she runs toward his little red car, parked on the road by the park.

"But how can he be here," he repeats, rooted to the spot. "How can the Doctor be here?"

"Leave it, Rory," Peyton groans, taking a hold of his forearm and dragging him toward the car, excitement bubbling up in her chest.

"Wait, why am I in the backseat?" She complains as she watches Amy slide into the passenger.

"Girlfriend privileges, P," she answers, earning a smile from her boyfriend. "Hospital, now," she orders.

• • •

"Somethings happened up there we can't get through," Rory says, a bit panicky. Amy is still trying to call the Doctor and Peyton sits on the railing feeling a bit left out.

She had called Mels, she would be so excited to know that the Doctor is back but the call went to her answering machine and Peyton didn't bother leaving a message.

Amy had caught both Rory and Peyton up on what on Earth is going on. The Multiform, the Atraxi hunting it down, the forcefield around the Earth making the sun go weird. All with a very narrow amount of time before they burn the world. Terrifying, oddly thrilling.

"Yes, but what's happened?" Amy asks.

"I, don't know, no one knows," Rory answers.

"Fat lot of good that is," Peyton rolls her eyes. Rory shoots her a glare before turning back to Amy.

"Phone him."

"Phoning him," she holds the phone up to her ear again "Doctor we're at the hospital but we can't get through," she pauses. "Oh." She pulls the phone away.

"What is he saying," Peyton slides off the stone railing and walks over to the other two.

"Look in the mirror."

The three of them turn to the mirror across the hall and Peyton realises that Amy and Rory (technically, kissogram or not) wearing uniforms.

"Haha," Amy smiles triumphantly. "Uniform."

She hands Rory the phone and without a second thought, he holds it to her ear while she pulls her hair into a ponytail.

"Are you on your way?" She asks. "You're gonna need a car."

• • •

With a bit of tactful hiding, they manage to get inside the ward without raising too much suspicion. As Peyton runs down the halls, she hears Amy whisper 'Oh God,' under her breath as they make their way through the deserted hall, trolleys and paper everywhere.

All of a sudden a woman with two girls walks around the corner.

"Officer," the woman gasps.

"What happened?" Amy responds instinctively.

"There was a man, a man with a dog," she answers. The Multiform. "I think Dr Ramsden's dead. And the nurses."

Amy redials to get back to the Doctor.

"Yep," she answers something the Doctor said. "But so is Prisoner Zero."

"He was so angry," the woman spoke again, recatching Peyton and Rory's attention. But she realises, the woman's mouth wasn't moving. "He kept shouting and shouting, the size of that dog, I swear it was rabid." Peyton looks down at the two girls and notices that the one on the left is speaking. "And he just kept attacking everyone."

Amy, Rory and Peyton freeze, slack-jawed. The creature had changed. Amy lowers her phone, signalling for the other two to take a step back, preparing to run.

"Where has he gone? We hid in the Ladies." It continues. "Oh, I'm getting it wrong again aren't I," the creature sighs through the woman's mouth, registering the look of horror on the three of their faces. "I'm always doing that. So many mouths." It opens all three of the mouth to reveal horrifying long teeth like bars on a cage.

"Oh my God," Rory almost trips over his feet as they, or rather, it snarls at them.

"Run," Peyton yells and turns on her heel. They begin to sprint, trying to find somewhere to hide but Prisoner Zero is hot on their tail. They head for the double doors at the end of the corridor and as soon as Peyton passes them she helps Amy and Rory slam them on the creature. Rory picks up a broom and slides it through the brass handles. The three walk backward into the empty ward, never taking their eyes off the door.

"Amy talk to me!" A faint voice screams through Amy's phone.

"We're in the coma ward but it's here, it's getting in." It bangs loudly on the door causing Peyton to jump back. "What sorry?" Amy questions the phone. Amy looks around frantically. "First floor on the left, fourth from the end." She yells into the phone.

The creature snaps the broom and opens the doors, snarling again now that it has its prey cornered. It stops snarling and smiles cynically at Amy in particular.

"Oh dear," the woman says. "Little Amelia Pond, I've watched you grow up." Now, that was slightly creepy. How does it know Amy's name and how did it watch her grow up? The Doctor mentioned something about it living in Amy's house for years, but Peyton had not quite absorbed it. "Twelve years," it brags. "And you never even knew I was there. Little Amelia Pond, waiting for her magic Doctor to return, but not this time Amelia." It bares its teeth again and Amy gets another message.

"DUCK!" She reads and sirens can be heard getting closer and closer, alarmingly closer. A firetruck. Peyton grabs Amy and Rory by the shoulders and pulls them down as the window smashes, the ladder of a fire truck protruding over the room and over their heads.

Slowly, Peyton stands up in the broken glass, staggering backward into the middle of the room and watches the Doctor climb up and along the ladder into the ward.

"Right, hello, am I late?" he smiles, jumping off the ladder and patting the still crouching Amy and Rory on the shoulders, nodding to Peyton. "No, three minutes to go, so still time." He walks over to the centre of the room, facing the creature. He stands in front of Peyton deliberately, as if guarding her even though the two had barely met.

"Time for what, Time Lords?" She smiles cockily and the breath hitches in the back of Peyton's throat, a hand rising to her chest, hearts racing. But the Doctor doesn't seem to notice.

"Take the disguise off, they'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies. Wait did you say Time Lords, as in, plural?" He breaks his train of thought.

"Oh haven't you noticed, Doctor?" The Multiform smiles coyly. "The genius girl with two hearts." She nods to Peyton. The Doctor spins around to look at the girl, his mouth hanging open.

"No," he says in a high pitched tone of disbelief, walking in a circle around her. "What are you talking about?"

"I've seen her many times, playing in Amelia's bedroom, sleeping in her. I've scanned her. A little bit human, a little bit Time Lord."

"But, but, you're impossible," the Doctor stammers.

"Yeah, and the world's gonna end in three minutes, is this really the time?" She snaps.

"Yes, you're right," he shakes his head, looking back to Prisoner Zero. "Where was I, that's right, turn yourself in," he commands.

"The Atraxi will kill me this time, if I am to die, let there be fire," it smiles evilly.

"Okay," the Doctor laughs sarcastically. "You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again, just leave," the Doctor shrugs.

"I did not open the crack."

"Somebody did."

"The cracks in the skin of the Universe, don't you know where they came from?" It says patronisingly. The Doctor doesn't say anything, clearly stumped. "You don't do you?" It laughs. "The Doctor and the Tardis doesn't know," it speaks with a young girls voice, through the woman's mouth. "Doesn't know, doesn't know," it sings. "The Universe is cracked," it reverts back to the woman's voice. "The Pandorica will open, silence will fall."

The Doctor doesn't respond, as if he's waiting for something. With a loud clicking noise, his whole body shifts.

"And we're off," he announces. "Look at that," he instructs. "Look at that," he points to the clock on the wall above the door. Peyton looks up and sees the clock shows 0:00, but that can't be the time, unless. It dawns on her. All zeros.

"Yeah I know, just a clock whatever," he explains. "But do you know what is happening right now?" He addresses the creature. "In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word, all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out, and do you know what the word is?" He rubs his hands together excitedly. The creature doesn't answer. "The word is 'Zero'." The creature tilts its head (the woman's one) to the side. "Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship monitoring all earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able to track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute? The source, by the way, is right here."

Suddenly the room floods with light and Peyton runs toward the window trying to look out. She can't see much, raising a hand above her eyes to shield them.

"Oh! And I think they just found us," the Doctor laughs.

"The Atraxi are limited," The creature speaks again. "While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me, they've tracked a phone, not me." Peyton turns back to the Doctor to see how he responds.

"Yeah," The Doctor replies calmly. "But this is the good bit, I mean, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you."

Peyton smiles, he really is a genius. It's Rory's phone. The phone with pictures of everyone Prisoner Zero has inhabited.

"Every form you've learned to take, right here," the Doctor smiles. "Oh, and being uploaded about now." He presses a couple of buttons before looking back up at Prisoner Zero.

"And the final score is; no Tardis, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare, who da man?" He says through his hands up in the air. Peyton cringes a little. When no one in the room makes a show of praise he looks around disappointedly. "Oh, I'm never saying that again, fine."

"Then I shall take a new form," Prisoner Zero challenges him.

"Oh stop it," The Doctor groans. "You know you can't. It takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"And I've had years."

Peyton looks to Amy who has a look of horror on her face. She drops to the ground and both her and the Doctor to rush over to help Rory who is already crouching at her side.

"Amy!" Peyton yells.

"You've got to hold on Amy," The Doctor grabs both sides of her face. "Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake please!"

"Doctor," Rory sits up and looks at the creature. Both Peyton and the Doctor's heads whip around to see not Amy, but the Doctor standing calmly in the place of Prisoner Zero. Peyton realises the creature must have known Rory would have had some pictures of Amy on his phone so the multiform took the shape of something else, but how?

The bright lights fade away.

"Well, that's rubbish, who's that supposed to be," The Doctor sits up.

"It's you," Peyton whispers, quite confused. How does someone just not know what they look like?

"Me? Is that what I look like," he asks genuinely.

"You don't know?" Rory raises an eyebrow.

"Busy day. Why me though? You're linked with her, why are you copying me?"

"I'm not," a familiar Scottish voice speaks in place of the Doctor's. A younger version of Amy steps out from behind the Doctor. "Poor, Amy Pond."

Peyton stares, horrified. Her best friend is lying on the floor unconscious and her younger self is standing across the room.

"She's still such a child inside, dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her, what a disappointment you've been."

Peyton looks to the Doctor for any sign of a next move but his face remains blank.

"She's dreaming about me cause she can hear me," he realises. He turns around and runs back to Amy, dropping to his knees to hold her face in his hands.

"Amy don't just hear me, listen," he instructs. "Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see? Remember when you went inside, I tried to stop you but you did. You went into the room, you went inside, Amy, dream about what you saw."

"No!" Amelia from across the room yells. "No, no!"

Peyton looks up to see both figures glow before morphing into a disgusting grey worm hanging from the ceiling. It's enormous. Its eyes bright yellow, and its teeth, the teeth are exactly like the one the woman and the girls had.

"Well done Prisoner Zero," The Doctor congratulates sarcastically. It roars in response. "A perfect impersonation of yourself."

Suddenly it starts screaming and the light pours in the windows again.

"Prisoner Zero is located." A booming voice announces. "Prisoner Zero is restrained."

It stops thrashing and looks directly at the Doctor.

"Silence, Doctor, Silence will fall." It hisses before fading away. The Doctor runs to the window, Peyton closely behind and they watch the Atraxi ship fly away.

"The sun, it's back to normal right?" Peyton asks, watching the Doctor pull out Rory's phone again.

"That good, yeah?" Rory asks. "That means it's over?"

The Doctor saunters toward the centre of the room and Peyton can't help but follow him, magnetised by him.

"Amy!" Rory gasps as she opens her eyes. "Are you okay, are you with us?"

"What happened," she asks him.

"He did it, the Doctor did it," Rory replies.

"No I didn't," the Doctor shuts him down, dialling a number.

"What are you doing?" Peyton frowns.

"Tracking the signal back, Sorry in advance Rory," he apologises.

"About what?"

"The bill," he pulls the phone up to his ear. "Oi, I didn't say you could go!" He yells into the mouthpiece. "Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. This, is a fully established, level 5 planet, and you were going to burn it? What? Did you think no one was watching?"

Peyton can't really tell what he is saying, it just sounds like a bunch of nonsense.

"You lot, back here, now!" He orders. He throws the phone back to Rory before turning to leave. "Okay, now I've done it."

"Um, did he just bring them back?" Rory asks as Amy runs off with the Doctor. "Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?" Peyton walks over to him and pulls him to his feet.

"Shut up?" Peyton suggests sarcastically before dragging him by his arm to follow the Doctor.

"Wait," Rory says as she drags him quickly down the halls until they catch sight of the Doctor's back again. "That, thing, it called you a Time Lord, Does that mean you're like him, Peyton, are you an alien?"

"I was born in London," she answers, avoiding the question, speeding up a little, still with a tight grip on his arm.

"But-"

"My father was like him, my mother was human, that good enough for you?" Peyton asks threateningly, still dragging him along

"Yep," he nods, pulling his arm from her grip, jogging alongside her.

The two of them catch up to the Doctor and Amy as they duck into a side room. Peyton quickly realises they are in the men's locker room, mostly from the smell, and falters for a second before remembering the whole building is deserted.

The Doctor starts grabbing articles of clothing, either shoving them into his arms or throwing them over his shoulder.

"What's in here?" Amy asks confused.

"I'm saving the world," the Doctor says casually, inspecting a tie. "I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy, time to put on a show!" He does a little spin and starts unbuttoning his shirt.

"You just summoned aliens back to Earth, actual aliens, deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now, you're taking your clothes off. Amy, he's taking his clothes off," Rory says panicked.

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you," the Doctor calls over his shoulder, now only in a black pair of boxer briefs.

"Are you stealing clothes now? Those clothes belong to people you know!"

Rory turns around, he looks at Peyton, as if silently asking if she's going to as well, she laughs, turning her back on the half-naked man. Rory looks at Amy.

"Are you not gonna turn your back?" He asks her. Amy simply crosses her arms and replies.

"Nope."

• • •

Peyton watches as the Atraxi ship flies off, the Doctor, no longer raggedy but dressed in a brown tweed jacket, matching red suspenders and a bow tie, looking up as it leaves.

Peyton grabs Amy and Rory's hands, jumping up and down and cheering but the Doctor simply looks down into his hand and dashes off.

"Doctor!" Peyton yells and rushes after him, Amy and Rory following quickly behind. She runs as fast as her legs can carry her after him, the back of his body appearing and disappearing from her sight as he ducks around corners.

Peyton recognises the route, her street. She finds herself in Amy's garden and spies it, the blue box she was always drawing. She catches up him just as the door slams in her face. A whirring noise stirs through the garden. A gust wind hits her face and she watches in disbelief as the box disappears.

Amy and Rory catch up behind her, panting and watching as the box vanishes into thin air.

• • •

Two years later, Peyton hears a knock at the door in the middle of the night.

It can't be her parents, they promised to be back by morning, nothing was stopping them being there for the wedding and would have texted before they arrived.

She slowly gets out of bed, pulling a jacket that was hanging on her desk chair over her sleep shirt before heading to the entry. It's probably just Amy calling with last-minute jitters. She pulls open the door and the sight of the Doctor snaps her out of her sleepy state.

"Hi," she manages dumbly.

"Hi," he says back. "So I have a few questions."

"Uh yeah," she replies. Two years it's been since the Doctor flew away. Two more years she was left in Leadworth, working part-time at the community library, looking up at the stars every night, just watching for a sign that he was coming back.

"Come on, get some shoes on then." Her eyes go wide, dashing back up to her bedroom. She grabs some proper pants, the tiny cloud print shorts just wouldn't cut it if they were going outside. She pulls some socks onto her feet before shoving them into a pair of baby pink Doc Martens. She plucks the pen she found two years ago off her desk, she had found it again just after the Doctor had left, waiting for the moment he came back. Quickly she grabs a hair tie, pulling it onto her wrist and races back to meet the Doctor, passing her bridesmaid dress on the way.

Peyton reaches the door and the Doctor is gone. Panicking, she steps outside and is relieved to see the box and the Doctor leaning up against it on the lawn.

"Go on," he smiles as she approaches. "Have a peek inside."

She reaches out a hand to touch the handle, the metal cold beneath her fingers. She pushes it open and stares at the inside. From what looks like a tiny box has a whole room inside it, a big one, with walls and lights and chairs and what looks like a control panel. It just can't be possible. Peyton looks back to the Doctor with an enormous grin.

"It's called the Tardis, an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

"A real time machine?" She gasps, still bewildered by the room inside the phone box.

"Well, they don't call us Time Lords for nothing," he chuckles, waving for her to step inside. She does, mouth falling open as she enters the ship. The Doctor follows, pulling the door shut behind him. "Speaking of, who are you?"

Peyton turns to him and looks him in the eyes. "I can't say I'm an expert on the subject. All I know is that my mother, she was human but my father was like you, an alien, a Time Lord."

"That's just not possible," he walks around her, looking the girl up and down. "Do you know anything about him?"

"I never met him, he was killed before I was born, by my own mum apparently. I was told he was called the Master."

The look of horror on the Doctor's face says it all. "Not only should Time Lord and Human DNA not be able to mix to create a child, but that was also only three years ago, that would make you..."

"Two years old, I know," she shrugs. "My first birth certificate reads the twenty-fourth of June, 2008. My mother, I'm told she died of complications from the birth, I lived in London, at a place called U.N.I.T." The Doctor's scoff tells you exactly how he feels about that name. "This was until I was about six, 2014, but they had a Vortex Manipulator and stole it and I ran away. All the way to Leadworth, 1995."

"Time Lord and Human DNA should really never be mixed in fact, it usually doesn't work, not only that, that year was erased her pregnancy should have rewinded," the Doctor reiterates, studying her. "What, what sort of, oh I don't know... Hearts?"

"Two," she answers simply. He breaks a smile. Childlike joy bubbling behind his eyes.

"How about regeneration?" He asks, bouncing his weight from one foot to another.

"What?" Peyton frown.

"Have you ever, you know died and then come back to life?"

"Not that I know of no, and I'm not about to go testing it." She raises an eyebrow, watching him pace in circles around her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," he replies.

She reaches into her jacket pocket, pulling out the pen. "What is it?" She asks. He smiles as he takes it from her, turning it over in his hands.

"Where did you find this?" He asks.

"We took a trip to London a couple months before you got here last time, I saw a man throw it in a bin but when I picked it up, it started buzzing kind of like your, uh thing. That's why I thought you'd know what it is."

"Ah yes, this is a pen through, not a screwdriver, and that man in a coat, may have been me but let's not get into technicalities." He points it at the control deck but nothing happens. "Hmm, lost its power, no matter, I can fix it."

"Right," she frowns as he tucks it into the inner pocket of his jacket. There's a moment of silence between the two, just trying to figure each other out.

"Peyton Barrett, the girl who should never have existed," he laughs. "Come on, we've got one more stop before we go," he rushes to the control panel.

"Go where?" She follows eagerly, looking around at all the knobs and buttons. All so shiny, as if it's brand new.

The console is so busy with lights and things to see. The glass floor is held up by many beams and supports that twist up the far walls of the room to the ceiling.

A few hallways can be seen leading away and deeper into the Tardis. A whole space ship trapped inside that little blue box.

"Anywhere, but first, there's a little Scottish girl I promised the stars."


	4. The Day They Saved a Saved Something Very Old, and Very Kind

The Doctor waves at Peyton and Amy through the monitor. The two girls laugh and run to the doors stepping out into a spaceship, in outer space!

  
"Welcome to London Market, you are being monitored," an omnipresent voice rolls through the marketplace.

  
"We're in the future," Amy smiles, looking around at everything. the marketplace delivers a steampunk vibe. The dark concrete and metal is juxtaposed by the vibrant and bustling stalls selling knick-knacks, brightly covered treats. Peyton laughs at the amount of Union Flags flying around the stalls. Still just as patriotic in the future, then. "Like, hundreds of years into the future."

  
"It's amazing how far technology has come. The space ships filled with humanity, reaching the stars," Peyton says to the Doctor, squinting upward. Blinking lights penetrate through the haze of pollution above.

  
"I've been dead for centuries," Amy realises with wide-eyed shock.

  
"Oh lovely," the Doctor rolls his eyes, "You're a cheery one. Peyton, you're my new favourite." He says jokingly but Peyton sticks her tongue out at Amy anyway.

  
"She's your favourite because she's like your space daughter, I still can't believe I grew up with an alien."

  
"Half!" Peyton corrects her.

  
"She's not my daughter," he looks at the blonde girl again. "Just, the daughter of an old friend."

  
"That's been bugging m, actually," Peyton frowns. "You look barely older than us, how could you have known my dad?"

  
"I'm older than I look, Peyton, very old," he says quietly. "But never mind that," he says, changing the tone of his voice completely. "Look at his place isn't it wrong?" He whisks away, walking quickly into the market.

  
"What's wrong?" Amy asks as she and Peyton catch up to him, still looking around in awe of the many stalls and busy citizens.

  
"Come on, use your eyes, notice everything. What's wrong with this picture?"

  
"Is it the bicycles?" She asks as she eyes a couple on bicycles. "Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles."

  
"Says the girl in the nightie," he answers back quickly.

  
"Oh my god, I'm in my nightie," she realises, Peyton laughs heartily.

  
"Now come on, both of you, look around, actually look." Peyton stares around at the market. People milling about, goods being sold. She looks up again, the smog is thinner in this part of the market and she sees that the roof is made of curved glass, showing the stars above. Beautiful.

  
"Life on a giant starship, back to basics, bicycles, washing lines, wind up street lamps, but look closer." The Doctor takes them both further into the market, into a food district. "Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear, a society bent out of shape on the brink of collapse, a police state, excuse me," he dashes away picking up a glass of water off a nearby table much to the surprise of the people sitting there. Peyton stares as he places it on the ground, looking at it suspiciously.

  
"Sorry," he says to the couple. "Checking all the water in this area," he lies. "There's an escaped fish."

  
He turns back to the two Earth girls.

  
"Where was I?" He asks.

  
"Why did you just do that with the water?" Peyton eyes him as he prances around the stalls.

  
"I don't know, I think a lot, it's hard to keep track," he replies, she can't tell if he's lying or not. "Now, police state, do you see it yet?"

  
"Where?" Amy asks.

  
"There," the Doctor snaps his fingers, pointing to a crying girl sitting on a red seat past where the rows of market stalls end, the same girl from they spotted in the monitor earlier. Peyton and Amy watch him as he strolls over, taking a seat on another red bench near her. They both shrug and follow him

  
"One little girl crying, so?" Amy asks as they take a seat on either side of him.

  
"Crying silently," he corrects. "I mean, children cry because they want attention; because they're hurt or they're afraid. When they cry silently, it's cause they just can't stop, any parent knows that." He points out simply.

  
"Are you a parent?" Amy asks. Peyton sees his face, and an expression she can only describe as 'don't want to talk about it' crosses it.

  
"Hundreds of parents walking past this spot and not one of them is asking her what's wrong," he changes the subject. Peyton gazes at him, engrossed in his thought process. "Which means, they already know, and it's something they don't want to talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of, shadows, whatever they're afraid of. It's nowhere to be seen which mean it's everywhere. Police state."

  
Peyton looks back toward the girl but she has vanished, her seat now empty.

  
"Where'd she go?" Amy asks.

  
"Deck 207, Apple Sesame block, Dwelling 54A," the Doctor answers in one breath. "You're looking for Mandy Tanner." Peyton stares at him in disbelief. "Oh, this fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her, took me four goes. You two, ask her about those things, the smiling fellows in the booths, they're everywhere."

  
"But they're just, things. Everywhere has things," Peyton replies, looking at one not too far from where she is sitting. It's like a ventriloquist dummy, its face carved into a grotesque smile. It sits behind a sheet of glass, framed by a red booth. Creepy.

  
"They're clean." He answers calmly. "Everything else in here is battered and filthy, look at this place. But no one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them. Look, ask Mandy, 'why are people scared of the things in the booths?'."

  
"Now hang on. What do we do? I don't know what we're doing here and I'm not even dressed!" Amy protests as the Doctor hands Peyton the girl's ID card.

  
"It's this or Leadworth, what do you think?" He asks, looking between his two companions. "Let's see. What will Amy Pond choose?"

  
Amy glares at him before sitting straight again.

  
"Haha, gotcha," he laughs. "And you?" He turns to Peyton.

  
"Anywhere but Leadworth."

  
"Good, meet me back here in half an hour," he instructs.

  
"What are you gonna do?" Amy raises an eyebrow.

  
"What I always do, stay out of trouble," he gets to his feet. "Badly."

  
"Have fun," Peyton says sarcastically. He winks at her and hops over the bench, sauntering off to who knows where. "So is this how it works Doctor?" She calls after him. "You never interfere with the affairs of other people's or planets unless there's children crying?"

  
He considers this for a moment, as if trying to find somehow to deny it but in the end answers. "Yes." With a goofy grin on his face.

  
He walks off and Peyton turns to Amy. "Well," she claps her hands together. "Let's get on with it."

  
"What, stalking a little girl?" Amy scoffs in her loveable Scottish accent.

  
"Apparently," Peyton shrugs with a smile and togetherness they begin their walk, following the directions from the girl's tag.

  
The further they walk, the less populated the ship gets, Peyton glances to her left and notices Amy shivering a little.

  
"Hey, you want my jacket?" She offers with a knowing smile.

  
"Thanks," she replies. Well, Peyton assumed she'd deny it first like a decent person but this was Amy Pond we're talking about, what was she expecting?

  
Peyton shrugs off her denim jacket and tosses it at the red-haired girl in the nightie, shaking her head but still laughing.

  
"You're following me."

  
They jump as the voice sounds from out of nowhere. Amy and Peyton both spin on their heels and see the little girl from the market. 

  
"Saw you watching me at the marketplace."

  
To be completely honest, Peyton feels like this little girl is a little too nonchalant about being stalked, is this normal here?

  
"You dropped this," Amy extends her arm toward her, showing the brightly coloured tag the Doctor procured.

  
"Yeah," she snaps, snatching it from her. "When your friend kept bumping into me," she glares at the strangers before walking away. At first, Peyton feels like leaving her alone, she doesn't seem like the kind of kid to go telling them everything about the booths but she has no choice as Amy runs to catch up with her.

  
"What's that?" She asks looking around the corner. When she catches up, Peyton sees it too.

  
A stripy tent, like a gazebo, blocks the path. Metal bars and warning signs surrounding it convey a strong message of 'do not enter'.

  
"There's a hole," Mandy answers, Peyton can't help noticing her tone of fright. "We have to go back."

  
"A what? A hole?" Amy raises an eyebrow. The 'hole' looks more like a heavily dis-advertised carnival tent. The bright stripy tarp surrounded by 'KEEP OUT' and 'DANGER' signs.

  
"Are you stupid? There's a hole in the road, we can't go that way," Mandy insists.

  
Amy, being Amy, walks right past all the signs and investigates the red and white striped plastic.

  
"There's a travel pipe down by the airlocks if you've got stamps," Mandy continues really trying to change Amy's mind.

  
"What are you doing?" Peyton asks her friend as she walks right up to the blockage.

  
"You know me," she smirks. "Never could resist a keep out sign." She turns to Mandy this time. "What's through there? What's so scary about a hole?" Mandy doesn't answer. She looks away and Peyton follows her gaze. She realises she's looking at one of the things, the things in the booths.

  
"Something under the road?" Amy continues, oblivious to Mandy's worrying.

  
"Nobody knows," she manages, still passing glances between Amy sitting on the dirty floor and the booth. "We're not supposed to talk about it." That's not ominous at all.

  
"About what?" Amy asks excitedly, the exact opposite way she should be feeling right now, Peyton crosses her arms over her chest and sighs.

  
Mandy takes a deep breath in before replying. "Below."

  
"And because you're not supposed to, you don't?" Amy cocks an eyebrow. "Watch and learn." Amy pulls a bobby pin out of your hair and Peyton groans.

  
"Amy, maybe she's got a point," she tries to reason with her wild spirited friend but deep down she knows there's no point. "We should get the Doctor."

  
"Hush, come here, you're coming with me," she motions for Peyton to follow, causing the blonde girl to chuckle.

  
"You know what," she decides. "I'm good here."

  
"Suit yourself," she huffs, Peyton can almost hear the eye roll. She quickly gets to work on the lock.

  
"You sound Scottish," Mandy observes.

  
"I am Scottish. What's wrong with that?" Amy asks loudly. "Scotland's got to be here somewhere."

  
"No," Mandy smiles. "They wanted their own ship." Peyton laughs.

  
"Hmm, good for them," Amy nods. "Nothing changes."

  
"So how did you get here?" Mandy asks.

  
"Oh, we're just passing through, with a guy, not boyfriend, just some guy," Peyton struggles to explain the relationship she and Amy have with him. Well, Amy's getting married tomorrow morning, and he's almost Peyton's uncle.

  
A few more minutes of conversation pass before Amy yells in triumph. "Hey, hey result!"

  
"Coming?" She asks.

  
"No."

  
"No way."

  
"Suit yourselves," she sighs. Leaning back to untie the rope keeping the tarp together.

  
The sound loud whirring, like heavy gears being ground together reaches Peyton's ears. She immediately follows Mandy's eye line and watch in horror as the thing, the puppet's head turns on itself and reveals a disgusting face, both its eyes blood red and its mouth pulled into an unrealistic frown.

  
"Stop, you mustn't do that!" Mandy yells.

  
"I think she's right!" Peyton calls after Amy who has already got her head inside the tent. "Amy!"

  
She doesn't answer, instead, climbing further inside. Peyton watches, teeth gritted as she tries to figure out whether to chase after her.

  
"Amy?" She calls again. No response. Nothing can be heard, for the longest thirty seconds of her life, until dull scraping, heavy breaths, but that could just be her imagination. That is until Amy screams.

  
"Amy, what's happening?" Peyton calls after her, stepping toward the tent but she is pushed back by four hooded figures who seem to have emerged from either side of the tent. Mandy makes a signal for her to step back. Peyton joins her a few feet away and watches as Amy stumbles out of the tent, looking up at the figures, confused and a little scared.

  
One of the figures lifts a hand and out of a black ring he sprays her with, something. She falls to the ground.

  
"Amy! What have you done to her!" Peyton yells. Taking a step forward but Mandy takes a fistful of the back of her shirt, preventing her from getting too close. "If you've hurt her I swear to God I will rip you limb from limb and-"

  
"She is just asleep," the closest one cuts her off in a monotone voice. "You will be escorted."

  
• • •

  
"Peyton, Mandy!"

  
Peyton whips her head to the side and gets to her feet from the red metal bench. They had been waiting outside the voting booth for about ten minutes now. The hooded figures instructed Peyton to wait for her friend before disappearing back into the starship. Mandy had stayed, despite Peyton telling her she should go home. The brave little girl insisted that she stay to show them both back to where they came from.

  
Footsteps coming from down the hall cause Peyton to look up toward it, before smiling at the familiar face.

  
"Doctor!" She smiles as he approaches.

  
"Where's Amy?" He asks, looking around. She simply glances at the metal door in front of her. He looks around.

  
"Voting Booth?" He raises an eyebrow in confusion. Peyton just shrugs.

  
With a click and a hiss of air, the door finally opens and they all look inside expectantly to see Amelia Pond, still in her nightie and Peyton's denim jacket, puffy-eyed and tense.

  
"Amy?" The Doctor tests cautiously. She doesn't reply. She just turns around, pressing a button to turn the monitor in front of her off. "What have you done?"

  
She makes no effort to reply as if she doesn't know, or doesn't remember. The Doctor steps into the room looking around. He pulls his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket and waves it around as if scanning for something.

  
The room is dark, four monitors stacked on top of each other stand in the centre of the far wall, all dark now thanks to Amy. In front of the chair, there are three buttons on the desk. Forget, Record, and Protest.

  
Once inside Peyton jumps in fright, a booth with a dummy inside it stands against the wall quietly, staring blankly into the room. Those things are so damn creepy. 

  
"What happened Doctor, why can't I remember?" Amy speaks finally, her voice shaky. The Doctor doesn't answer but pulls the plastic chair from the desk to the middle of the room to stand on it. He points his screwdriver at the ceiling light, the green light illuminating every piece of dust.

  
"Yeah, your basic memory wipe job," he deduces. "Must have erased about twenty minutes."

  
"But why would I choose to forget?" Amy asks as he jumps down to inspect the monitor.

  
"Because everyone does," Mandy replies from the hallway. "Everyone chooses the forget button."

  
"Did you?" The Doctor asks, walking up to her and placing his hands on his knees.

  
"I'm not eligible to vote yet, I'm twelve," she answers, her face clearly confused as to why he would assume that. "Any time after you're sixteen, you're allowed to see the film and make your choice. And then once every five years."

  
"And once every five years everyone chooses to forget what they've learned?" Peyton folds her arms and turns her eyes back to the monitor interface.

  
"Democracy in action," the Doctor smiles cynically.

  
"How do you not know about this?" Mandy asks, a reasonable question in this situation. "Are you Scottish too?" The Doctor chuckles.

  
"I'm way worse than Scottish, I can't even see the movie, won't play for me," the Doctor smiles, hinting at his extraterrestrial origins.

  
"Yeah, Scottish," Peyton lies. Though she may be half-alien in one sense, she is still a British citizen.

  
"It played for me," Amy states, puzzled clearly.

  
"Difference being the computer doesn't accept me as human," The Doctor replies.

  
"Why not?" Amy asks and Peyton sighs. The Doctor and Peyton both give her a knowing look.

  
"You look human," Amy states the obvious.

  
"So does Peyton," the Doctor shrugs.

  
"Yeah but she's half-"

  
"Besides, you look Time Lord, we came first."

  
"So there are other Time Lords, yeah?" Amy asks. "Like beside you, Peyton."

  
"No," the Doctor replies shortly. Peyton's breath falters. "There were, but there aren't, just me now, and Peyton but that whole matter is a bit sketchy" he pauses. "Long story, there was a bad day, bad stuff happened and you know what? I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it. But I don't, not ever. 'Cause this is what I do. Every time, every day, every second. This." He rubs his hands together and whispers. "Hold tight, we're bringing down the government." He slams his fist on the 'PROTEST' button.

  
The first thing that happens, the door slams shut, locking Mandy out, probably for the best. Then, the sound of whirring cogs causes the three travellers to look at the booth dummy and Peyton sees the same blood-red eyes and toothy frown as half an hour ago by the hole. The Doctor grabs both Peyton and Amy's hands and pulls them back into the corner as the floor seems to open up revealing a mechanical chasm, smoke illuminated with red light.

  
"Say, 'wheeee!'"

  
"Aaaaargh!" Peyton and Amy scream in response as the floor retreats completely into the wall and they fall, within seconds, the force of the air rips their clasped hands apart and they drift away from each other. Their different weights pull them down and thank goodness for that as the tunnel narrows into more of a tube.

  
Peyton hits the ground with an uncomfortable splat, her body submerges itself in almost a foot liquid and she fights to keep her head above the fluid. She sits up and quickly moves out of the way as Amy flies down the tube, her landing create a splash that covers Peyton's face in the foul-smelling substance.

  
"Ah, high-speed air cannon," the Doctor laughs, not the response one would expect when they just got out of one into a pile of filth. He must have hit the floor just before Peyton. "Lousy way to travel."

  
"Where are we?" Peyton asks, tentatively, not really sure if she wants to know. It's dark and the smell alone, causes her to gag. She groans at the constant sensation of all her clothes sticking to her, heavy with whatever it is they landed in as well as her lower half still sitting in it.

  
"Uh, 600 feet down, 20 miles laterally puts us at the heart of the ship, I'd say, Lancashire. So, what's this then?" He waves about his sonic screwdriver as the girls unsteadily get to their feet. "A cave? Can't be a cave, looks like a cave."

  
"It's a rubbish dump," Amy throws, well, something at the back of his head with an unsettling splat, earning a frown from the Time Lord. "And it's minging!"

  
"Yes, but only food refuse," the Doctor notices. "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship," he drops to his knees, searching through the scraps for something, Peyton and Amy follow suit.

  
"The floor's all squishy, like a water bed," Amy observes.

  
"But feeding what though," the Doctor says absent-mindedly.

  
"It's sort of rubbery, feel it," Peyton says, deeply disturbed. "Wet and slimy."

  
A loud moan rings out through the not-a-cave and the Doctor leaps to his feet.

  
"Uh, it's not a floor," the Doctor frowns. "It's a, um."

  
"It's a what?" Peyton asks, slightly scared if the Doctor doesn't want to admit it.

  
"The next word is kind of a scary word," the Doctor explains as the two of them get back to their feet. He grabs one of Amy's hands and one of Peyton's, pulling them into a triangle. "You probably want to take a moment, get yourself in a calm place. Go 'om'."

  
Peyton and Amy look at each other before following the Doctor's instructions. He lets go of their hands and looks between the two, waiting for the worst.

  
"It's, a, tongue."

  
"A tongue?" Amy replies, no emotions on her face.

  
"A tongue?" Peyton repeats.

  
"A tongue. A great big tongue." The Doctor smiles maniacally.

  
"This is a mouth," Amy realises, looking around. "This whole place is a mouth." Panic starts to show in her voice.

  
"We're in a mouth!?" Peyton yells at him.

  
"Yes, yes," he makes a 'calm down' motion with his hands. "But on the plus side, roomy."

  
"Well, how do we get out!?" Peyton whips her head around wildly.

  
"How big is this beastie?" He ignores you. "It's gorgeous!" He walks around, scanning again. "Blimey! If this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach." As if jinxed, the creature starts groaning. "Though, not right now."

  
"Doctor!" Amy yells. "How do we get out?"

  
"Okay, it's being fed through tubes, surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is," he pauses. "Closed for business."

  
"We could try though," Amy suggests. Typical her.

  
"No! Stop, don't move," the Doctor warns. As the beast moans again. "Too late, it's started."

  
"What has?" Peyton shouts as she loses her balance and falls to the floor, or rather, tongue.

  
"Swallow reflex!" The Doctor yells as he too loses balance and lands in the filth with his two companions.

  
The Doctor arches up and points the screwdriver at the throat.

  
"What are you doing?" Peyton asks with a yelp as she tries to get up but is thrown back down.

  
"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors." He yells.

  
"Chemo-what?" Amy half screams as she gets to her feet.

  
"The eject button."

  
"How does a mouth have an eject button?" She asks as Peyton and the Doctor also find their feet. Peyton gulps, dreading what's to come.

  
"Think about it!" Peyton yells, bracing herself. They all freeze as a gross retching noise fills the cavern and a wave of, fluid charges toward them.

  
"Right then," the Doctor grimaces. "This isn't going to be big on dignity." Again, Peyton feels his hand surround hers and she imagines he took Amy's as well.

  
"Geronimo!" He yells like a battle cry as Peyton and Amy scream.

  
• • •

  
Peyton spits out the contents of her mouth, never happier to land on a concrete floor. She groans in pain as she props herself up on her elbows.

  
"There's nothing broken, there's no sign of concussion, and yes, you are covered in sick," The Doctor says a few feet away, Peyton realises she must have passed out for a while and the Doctor had examined her in that time. So the Doctor really does know a thing or two about medicine.

  
"Where are we?" Amy asks.

  
"Overspill pipe, at a guess?" He replies, sonic aimed at the door.

  
Peyton gets to her feet with Amy, glad to be out of the mouth, it doesn't smell any better out here though.

  
"Oh od, it stinks!" Amy shivers in disgust.

  
"I don't think that's the pipe," Peyton grimaces, flicking her hands to the sides trying to get some of the sick off of them before pushing her slick hair out of her face. 

  
"Can we get out?" Amy asks desperately.

  
"One door, one door switch, one condition," the Doctor explains the situations he turns around to face the two of them. "We forget everything we saw, look familiar?" He points to the white 'FORGET' button by the door. "That's the carrot," he walks past them toward the other end of the pipe. "Ooh, here's the stick." Peyton turns to see where he's looking and at the other one of the tunnel where there are two booths. "There is a creature living in the heart of this ship," he addressed the booths, or rather, the things inside them. "What's it doing here?" The things don't seem to like that, their heads spin around to a frown, a warning.

  
"No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beastie below decks and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat, is that how it works?"

  
The things really don't like that, spinning their heads round to reveal their final face, the blood-red eyes staring at the Doctor.

  
"Oh stop it," the Doctor groans. "I'm not leaving, and I'm not forgetting and what are you fellows gonna do about it? Stick out your tongues?" He aggravates them further.

  
Without warning, the fronts of the booths swing open in unison causing Amy, Peyton, and the Doctor step back in shock.

  
"Doctor?" Amy gasps as the dummies stand up and walk toward them. Out of nowhere, Peyton is pushed aside and a cloaked figure walks past, shooting the two robots.

  
They place the gun back in its holster with a flourish.

  
"Look who it is," The Doctor smiles, Peyton guesses they met when she and Amy were separated from him. "You look a lot better without your mask."

  
"You must be Amy and Peyton," she turns toward the two girls and extends a hand for them to shake. "Liz Ten."

  
"Hi," Peyton manages, still in shock. Liz ten looks at her hand in disgust and Peyton realises it probably wasn't good manners to shake someone's hand while covered in vomit.

  
"Lovely hair, Amy," she nods uncomfortably. "Shame about the sick."

  
The Doctor smiles at his companions cheekily as to say 'ha ha' as the woman leads the travellers out of the tunnel.

  
"You know Mandy, yeah?" she asks. Through the now open door, Peyton sees Mandy standing meekly, clearly off-put by the smell and sight of the three strangers "She's very brave."

  
"How did you find us?" The Doctor questions.

  
"Stuck my gizmo on you," she smiles, tossing a small metal object to him. "Been listening in, nice moves on the hurl escape."

  
"You'd have a different opinion if you were there," Peyton mumbles under her breath

  
"So," Liz starts as the Doctor inspects the beeping object. "What's the big fella doing here?"

  
"You're over sixteen, you've voted," he doesn't answer her question. "Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it."

  
"No," she replies simply. "Never forgot, never voted, not technically a British subject."

  
"Then who and what are you, and how do you know me?" He leans closer, arching an eyebrow. She smiles at that.

  
"You're a bit hard to miss love, a mysterious stranger, M.O consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot." He points a finger at her warningly before self consciously running his fingers through his hair. "I've been brought up on the stories, my whole family was."

  
"Your family?" The Doctor asks.

  
"They're repairing." Liz ignores him. Peyton looks back to the robots and sees them try to get up. "Doesn't take them long, let's move," she orders with a swish of her coat. They quickly follow her, the Doctor bringing up the rear defensively.

  
• • •

  
"The Doctor," Liz ten explains. "Old drinking buddy of Henry XII, tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, wasn't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the virgin queen, you bad, bad boy!"

  
"Liz Ten?" Peyton blurts, finally understanding.

  
"Liz Ten, yeah," she nods.

  
"Elizabeth the Tenth!" The Doctor's eyes go wide with excitement.

  
"And down!" She yells and Peyton instinctively ducks and she turns 180 degrees and shoots her gun at two robots who Peyton didn't notice were following.

  
She smiles triumphantly as they fall to the ground. She looks down at the three figures at her feet.

  
"I'm the bloody queen mate," she smiles. "Basically, I rule."

  
• • •

  
They round another corner and the Doctor opens a metal door, everyone files through, Peyton tying back her still gross hair. To Peyton's horror, immediately to her left, she spots the bars of a cage with what can be best described as the tail of a scorpion only a bit slimier and much bigger. It thrashes against the bars as if it's trying to get out, or maybe it's in pain.

  
"There's a high-speed vator through there," Liz says as she closes the door behind her. "Oh yeah," she says as an after note when she sees everybody looking at the appendage. "There's these things, any ideas?"

  
"Doctor I saw one of these up top," Amy speaks up. "There was a hole in the road like it had burst through, like a root."

  
"Exactly like a root," the Doctor scans it with his sonic and inspects the readings. "It's all one creature, the same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."

  
"What, like an infestation?" Liz asks. The Doctor doesn't answer, he just looks at it sadly. "Someone's helping it, feeding it, feeding my subjects to it. Come on!" She orders, and the small group follow her through the corridor. But the Doctor stays put, Peyton and Amy turn around and slowly walk back to him, with that peculiar look on his face as he grips the metal bars.

  
"Doctor," Peyton says tentatively, it snaps him out of his trance.

  
"Oh, Peyton, Amy," he says in a sad voice. "We should never have come here."

  
He walks off to join Liz and Mandy but Amy stares off into space causing Peyton to stay as well..

  
"You okay?" She asks softly. Amy looks back at her, distraught.

  
"Yeah," she lies and turns to catch up with the others.

  
• • •

  
They find themselves in the Queen's extravagant room. Red fabrics with gold designs, a mahogany four-poster bed, a chandelier, on the floor apparently, accompanied by an assortment of glasses filled with water.

  
"Why all the glasses?" The Doctor asks her as she sits on her bed, now dry from walking but Peyton still thinks the Queen would rather not have him on her bed.

  
"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what," she looks off into the distance. Peyton watches as the Doctor picks up the porcelain mask, looking at it curiously.

  
"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom," he says, Peyton can almost see the gears turning in his head as he tries to unravel something.

  
"Secrets are being kept from me," she counters, sitting upright. "I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this, my entire reign, and you've achieved more in one afternoon."

  
"How old were you when you came to the throne?" The Doctor questions, running his fingers across the edges of the mask.

  
"Forty, why?"

  
"What, you're fifty now, no way!" Amy's jaw drops as she pins up her hair.

  
"Yeah," Liz says proudly. "They slowed my body clock, keeps me looking like the stamps."

  
"And you always wear this in public?" The Doctor holds the mask up to her face.

  
"Under cover's not easy when you're me," she complains. "The autographs, the bunting."

  
"Air balanced porcelain," the Doctor interrupts. "Stays on by itself, 'cause it's perfectly sculpted to your face."

  
Liz furrows her eyebrows. "Yeah, so what?"

  
"Oh, Liz," he shakes his head. "So everything."

  
Peyton hears the sound of a door opening and looks to see two of the hooded figures who incapacitated Amy earlier that day. They seem to act as security guards whenever someone goes somewhere they shouldn't.

  
"What are you doing?" Liz scowls. "How dare you come in here."

  
The Doctor gets up off her bed to stand face to face with the intruders.

  
"Ma'am, you've expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship U.K, you'll come with us now," the first one says, ignoring the Doctor standing right in front of him.

  
"Why would I do that," she saunters up to the man menacingly. With a terrifyingly familiar whirring and clicking his head turns around to reveal a plastic head with red eyes and a deep frown.

  
"How can they be smilers?" Amy asks no one in particular. Apparently, they're not called 'the things in the booths', Mandy opened up in the safety of the Queen's quarters and told the travellers about them and why she was crying earlier.

  
"Half smiler, half human," the Doctor smirks.

  
"Whatever you creatures are," Liz steps forward, lowering her tone to a threatening whisper. "I am still your Queen. On whose authority is this being done?"

  
"The highest authority, ma'am," the smiler replies with a robotic voice.

  
"I am the highest authority!" Liz snarls.

  
"Yes, ma'am." Peyton's eyes fall on Liz curiously. "You must go now, ma'am."

  
"Where?" Liz demands.

  
"The tower, ma'am."

  
• • •

  
As soon as the odd band of strangers enter the Tower of London, Peyton immediately gets the feeling of, 'let's get out of here right now'. She wasn't a fan of any version of the tower really, but this one was extraordinarily upsetting. 

  
The room is stone, lit intermittently with small wall sconces. There are wires and fuse boxes decorating the dark walls, electrical buzzing and something banging against metal for that relaxing ambience.

  
"Doctor, where exactly are we?" Peyton asks, staring down what can only be a vent where she finds what's making the banging, more of the 'roots', thrashing violently against the metal.

  
"The lowest point of Starship U.K, the dungeon," he does a little spin for dramatic effect.

  
"Ma'am?"

  
"Hawthorne!" Liz clearly recognises the voice. "So this is where you hid yourself away, I think you've got some explaining to do."

  
He bows reverently and Peyton realises she probably should have curtseyed at some point as well.

  
"There's children down here, what's that all about?" The Doctor interrupts to address Hawthorne. Peyton watches as a few children walk past, carrying something, fuel? Can't be, no engines.

  
"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast," he says as if that was a perfectly simple solution. "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared, you're very lucky."

  
Peyton watches, a sinking feeling of pity in her stomach as she observes these children, some can't be any older than ten, haul around bits and pieces, heads bowed melancholically.

  
"Yeah, look at us, the torture chamber of the Tower of London, lucky, lucky, lucky," the Doctor says sarcastically. "Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is, except it isn't. Depends on your angle."

  
"What's that?" Liz asks, peering into a fenced hole whereby a laser in the ceiling whatever it is, it's being shot with a beam of light.

  
"Well, like I say, it depends on the angle."

  
Peyton stares down into it, staying warily away from the railing. The first word that comes to her mind is 'brain', but it can't be.

  
"It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain being tortured relentlessly."

  
"Or?" Peyton asks, almost afraid to know.

  
"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator, Starship U.K's go-faster button.

  
"I don't understand," Liz looks up at him.

  
"Don't you? Try, go on, the spaceship that could never fly, no vibration on deck, this creature, this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading you. It's what you have instead of an engine." The Doctor raises his voice, pure anger bubbling up inside him, the bouncing puppy from a few hours ago is gone and a ruthless man has taken his place. "And this place down here, this is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep moving." Peyton watches as the beam of light come down again, making the brain quiver and she thinks she hears a faint moan of pain in the distance.

  
"Tell you what," the Doctor gets an idea, racing away from the torture device. "Usually it's above the range of human hearing." He rips off the grate and one of the 'roots' rising through, waving menacingly. Peyton gasps, wondering what he could be up to.

  
"This is the sound none of you wanted to hear," he pulls out his sonic and points it at the appendage, nothing happens for a moment but then the very faint sound Peyton thought she was hearing is amplified to a terrible roaring and high pitched shrieking, melded together in a song of pain and despair. It makes her very bones shake and her hearts miss a beat. She raises her hands to her ears, trying anything to block out the noise.

  
"Stop it," Liz whimpers and the Doctor pockets his sonic immediately. No one says anything for a long time. Just in shock.

  
"Who did this," Liz finally speaks, glaring at Hawthorne.

  
"We act on instructions from the highest authority."

  
"I am the highest authority," Liz glares, her patience wearing thin. He smiles simply. "The creature will be released, now." Nobody moves. "I said now!" The Doctor looks down at his hands, you realise he is still holding the mask. "Is anybody listening to me?"

  
"Liz," he says softly. "Your mask."

  
"What about my mask?" He tosses it to her.

  
"Look at it." He walks toward her slowly. "It's old. At least 200 years old, I'd say."

  
"Yeah, it's an antique, so?" She questions the relevance of his actions.

  
"Yeah, an antique, made by craftsmen over 200 years ago, and perfectly sculpted to your face."

  
Peyton looks closer at the Queen. She said she was 50, but the Doctor is suggesting she's even older. The pieces start fitting together in her head.

  
"They slowed your body clock all right, but you're not 50, nearer, 300," he pauses as his face shifts to one of shock. "And it's been a long old reign."

  
"Nah, it's ten years," she says in disbelief. "I've been on this throne ten years."

  
"Ten years," he nods. "And the same ten years over and over again," he grabs her hand. "Always leading you here."

  
Peyton and Amy follow them quickly and find themselves standing in front of a monitor, similar to the one in the voting booth but this one has a single screen and instead of a 'PROTEST' button, a button that reads, 'ABDICATE'.

  
Liz turns to Hawthorne, "What have you done?" She asks in a voice about to be broken by tears.

  
"Only what you have ordered, we work for you, ma'am. The winders, the smilers, all of us." He reaches over to the monitor and switches it on, inviting her to sit on the chair in front.

  
• • •

  
The picture fades and no one has the strength to say anything, a mix of wonder and horror forming in Peyton's chest.

  
"I voted for this?" Amy says in horror. "Why would I do that?"

  
"Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice, humanity or the alien," the Doctor says darkly. "You took it upon yourself to save me from that and that was wrong."

  
Peyton looks to the Doctor with an expression of concern. His youthful face marked by lines that have seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He looks nothing like the hyperactive and eccentric alien Peyton met two years ago. He looks almost, ancient.

  
"You don't ever decide what I need to know," he points a finger threateningly at her.

  
"I don't even remember doing it," she argues.

  
"You did it, that's what counts," he says frustrated.

  
"I'm, I'm sorry."

  
"Oh, I don't care," the Doctor snaps. "When I'm done here, you're going home." He walks away from her and to the computer.

  
Peyton watches her heartbroken face, this is what she's dreamed about for fourteen years. Travelling with the Doctor and it all disappeared in front of her eyes.

  
"Why?" She questions, Peyton moves to hold her arm reassuringly. "Because I made a mistake? One mistake?" She tries to hold Amy in place but she pulls out of your grip to confront the Doctor. "I don't even remember doing it!" He ignores her. "Doctor!" She yells again.

  
"Yeah, I know," he replies in the sort of voice a disappointed parent would use. "You're only human."

  
He begins to move his hands over a small control panel, pressing a few buttons before pausing to sigh.

  
"What are you doing?" Peyton asks tentatively.

  
"The worst thing I'll ever do," he replies, still not looking up from the computer. "I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain, should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly but the whale won't feel it."

  
"That will be like killing it," Amy frowns.

  
"Look," the Doctor says tiredly. "Three options. One, I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds of more years. Two, I kill everyone on this ship. Three, I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can, and, and then I find a new name because I won't be the Doctor anymore."

  
"There must be something we can do, some other way," Liz pleads.

  
"Nobody talk to me," the Doctor sighs angrily. "Nobody human has anything to say to me today!" He yells.

  
"Doctor," Peyton tries to reason with him in a small voice.

  
"Peyton, just," he looks at her and its almost as if he's seeing someone else. His eyes are so tired. She gets the message.

  
• • •

  
Peyton leans against the stone wall with Amy and Mandy. Amy tossed her denim jacket back and she simply let it sit on her lap, fiddling with the hem, watching the Doctor. Peyton hardly notices one of the Winders opening the door, letting three children, their arms filled with metal scraps and other things though.

  
"Timmy!" Mandy exclaims as she gets up and runs to a curly-haired boy. Peyton can't hear their conversation but Timmy seems to not be responding. Then, Peyton notices behind the children. The scorpion-like appendage rears up like it was about to strike. Both Amy and Peyton prepare to yell out in warning but the most peculiar thing happens. Gently, it taps on her shoulder, making the children turn in fright. Peyton and Amy slowly get to their feet as if in sync. They watch as Mandy extends a hand up and begins to stroke it gently, the Star Whale seems to lean into her touch and nuzzle itself against her hand.

  
Peyton's brain starts working incredibly fast. The Star Whale, coming like a miracle when the children screamed, Hawthorne said it won't eat them. It's the last of its kind.

  
Her eyes turn to the Doctor. The last of his kind, investigating the ship purely because he saw a child crying. He promised to take Amy away and he fixed the crack in her wall because she was scared. Peyton and Amy look at each other, silently verifying they're on the same wavelength.

  
"Doctor, stop!" Peyton yells out. "Whatever you're doing, stop it now!"

  
"Sorry your majesty," Amy grabs Liz by the arm and drags her to the monitor. "Going to need a hand."

  
The Doctor realises what they are up to and yells, "Amy no!" But it's too late. Amy slams the Queen's hand on the 'ABDICATE' button.

  
For a second, nothing happens. Then, a series of loud clicks ring through the entire ship and a mighty roar. The whole place starts shaking. Peyton falls to the ground and rolls herself under the desk to protect herself.

  
"Amy, what have you done," the Doctor looks around, terrified.

  
"Nothing at all," Peyton smiles as the ship settles. "Are we right?"

  
"We've increased speed," Hawthorne gasps.

  
"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot, gotta help." Amy chuckles.

  
"It's still here," Liz says in disbelief. "I don't understand."

  
"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago," Amy sighs. "It volunteered."

  
"You didn't have to trap it or torture it, that was all just you," Peyton explains, trying to make them see what they've done. "It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry." This makes Liz look away and down to the brain. "What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old and that kind, and the very last of your kind," she turns to the Doctor. "You couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

  
• • •

  
Peyton finally spots the Doctor and pulls on Amy's sleeve to guide her around the corner and run up to him.

  
"From her Majesty," Amy smiles, handing the Doctor the Queen's mask. "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship U.K."

  
"You could have killed everyone on this ship," he says, gazing out the giant viewing windows.

  
"You could have killed a Star Whale," she rebuts. He looks at her, then at Peyton, then at Amy again.

  
"And you saved it, I know, I know," he looks back to the stars.

  
"Amazing through don't you think?" Amy stares with him. "The Star Whale, all that pain and misery, and loneliness. And it just made it kind." She looks at him, trying to get him to say something.

  
"But you couldn't have known how it would react," the Doctor finally looks at her.

  
"You couldn't," she corrects him. "But I've seen it before."

  
"Very old, very kind, and the very very last. Sound a bit familiar?" Peyton explains. The Doctor's blank expression breaks into a soft smile.

  
"Oh, Doctor," Amy laughs as she throws her arms around his neck. and pulls her into a hug. She giggles quietly to herself at how these things turn out. "Get over here, P," Amy laughs and she joins the group hug, smiling widely.

  
• • •

  
"Shouldn't we say goodbye?" Amy asks as the three of them walk back through the marketplace. "Won't they wonder where we went?"

  
"For the rest of their lives," the Doctor shrugs casually. "Oh, the songs they'll write! Never mind then, big day tomorrow!"

  
Amy stops, Peyton looks at her face and realises she never told him.

  
"Sorry, what?" She asks a little stunned.

  
"It's always a big day tomorrow," the Doctor unlocks the Tardis quickly. Amy breathes out relieved. "We've got a time machine, I skip the little ones."

  
"You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning?" Amy fiddles with her nightie. He turns around and looks at her intently. "Have you ever run away from something because you were scared or not ready or just, just because you could?"

  
Peyton was shocked. Why would Amy want to run away from her wedding day? It's all she could talk about since Rory proposed.

  
"Once, a long time ago," the Doctor smiles.

  
"What happened?"

  
"Hello," the Doctor grimaces.

  
"Right, Doctor, there is something I haven't told you," she folds her arms. He looks at her expectantly. "No, wait, is that a phone ringing?"

  
He nods and opens the door for the two of them, heading inside quickly.

  
"People phone you?" Peyton asks, how can people phone a time machine.

  
"Well, it's a phone box, Amy, would you mind?" He asks at the top of the steps, gesturing to the phone on the console. Peyton follows him, Amy close behind her and she picks it up cautiously.

  
"Hello? Sorry, who? No, seriously, who?" She moves the phone away from her mouth and frowns at the Doctor. "Says he's the Prime Minister, first the Queen, now the Prime Minister? Get about don't ya?"

  
"Which Prime Minister?" He asks, fiddling with some levers and buttons. He gestures at Peyton to pull a red switch.

  
"Um, which Prime Minister?" She pulls the phone away again. "The British one."

  
"Which British one?"

  
"Which British one?" Amy asks the caller. She pulls the phone away from her slowly toward the Doctor, an amused smile growing on her face. "Winston Churchill for you."

  
 _The_ Winston Churchill?

  
"Oh! Hello dear," he smiles, taking the phone. "What's up?" He pauses, listening to his reply. "Don't worry about a thing Prime Minister, we're on our way." He puts the phone down and beams at Peyton and Amy.

  
"Off to World War Two." 


	5. The Day the Daleks Came Back

Peyton runs her hand along the railing as she walks back down the stairs leading to the console room, thankful to get out of the clothes that as dry as they may have seemed, still stunk like giant alien whale vomit. She meets the Doctor with a smile.

"Is Amy still in there?" The Doctor asks, clearly annoyed at the delay.

"She's overwhelmed with accessories," Peyton jokes. "She can't find the perfect shoes."

"Hey, I heard that!" Amy calls from the landing, apparently finally decided on her outfit.

The wardrobe the Doctor had directed the two girls to was enormous and fantastical. Peyton found ballgowns from the nineteenth century and crazy obscure articles from the future.

She settled on a pair of black jean and an ocean blue t-shirt. Simple, no fuss.

"Brilliant," the Doctor hits a few more buttons. "Off to London, the original this time."

The Tardis materialises and the Doctor bounces down to the door to stick his head out.

"Amy, Peyton," he calls. They both rush after him. They step out only to falter, the famous face of a man they'd seen countless photos of. Peyton's mouth falls open. "Meet Winston Churchill."

She can't believe she's actually seeing him, the Winston Churchill in real life. They step out into a storage room of all places, odd place to park. The walls are lined with shelves holding dusty boxes and binders.

"Doctor," he smiles. "Is it you?"

"Ah, Winston my old friend!" He extends his hand for a handshake but instead, Winston makes a 'hand it over' motion with his hand. "Ah, every time!"

"What's he after?" Peyton smiles.

"Tardis key, of course," he laughs.

"Think of what I could achieve with your remarkable machine Doctor. The lives that could be saved."

"Ah it doesn't work like that," the Doctor turns and closes the Tardis door.

"Must I take it by force?" He asks. Peyton isn't really sure if he's joking or not.

"I'd like to see you try," the Doctor smirks. Winston looks at him with a defeated glare. "You rang?"

• • •

"So you've changed your face again?" Winston asks as they walk through the halls of wherever they are, struggling to keep up with everything. Also, changed his face? That was an odd phrase, Peyton doesn't quite understand.

"Yeah, well, had a bit of work done."

"Got it, got it, got it," Peyton smiles as she realises where she is. "Cabinet war rooms, right?"

"Yep," the Doctor flashes her a grin. "Top-secret heart of the war office, right under London."

"You're late by the way," Winston shakes his head.

The Doctor checks his watch, surely it wouldn't work very well with all the jumping around in space and time, he was twelve years late quite recently actually.

"Late?" He questions as if the very notion is preposterous.

"I rang you a month ago."

"Really? Sorry," he apologises. "Sorry, it's a type fourty Tardis, I'm just running her in." The words the Doctor just said we're definitely English but Peyton did not understand a thing he just said, this was becoming a trend.

• • •

The Doctor bats away the cigar smoke from Winston's mouth, incidentally batting it toward Peyton and Amy who try to cough discreetly in the cramped lift.

"We stand at a crossroads Doctor, quite alone with our backs to the wall," Winston takes the cigar out of his mouth finally. "Invasion is expected daily. So I will grasp with both hands anything that will give us an advantage over the Nazi menace."

"Such as?" The Doctor asks. Winston simply laughs and the lift comes to a halt. He pulls open the door and turns to the three travellers.

"Follow me."

Peyton walks out onto the roof and look around at the piles of sandbags and the people milling about, the skyline of London in the background.

"Doctor, this is Professor Edwin Bracewell, head of our Ironsides project." He points to a man with binoculars standing on a higher platform watching the skies.

"How do you do?" He calls back.

Out of nowhere, the sound of a bomb being dropped startles Peyton, London shakes beneath her feet. She's heard about the devastation of the wars growing up, but to be here, that's more than unsteadying.

"Doctor it's, it's..." she can't draw her eyes away. The London Blitz. She learned about it so often in school. The devastation, the lives lost. It's horrible.

"History," he replies simply.

"Ready Bracewell?" Churchill calls up to the professor.

"Aye aye, sir," he responds. "On my order, Fire!"

Something starts shooting at the planes from behind the sandbags but they can't be bullets, the Nazi planes are too far away but, the noise it makes, it strikes a chord with Peyton but she can't quite put her finger on it.

One by one the Nazi ships explode in the air.

"What was that?" Amy asks horrified.

"That wasn't human," the Doctor admits as if bracing himself for the answer. "That was never human technology. That sounded like..." He trails off his mind racing at a million miles per hour. "Show me, show me what that was!" He demands, jumping up the ladder to where Bracewell is standing.

"Advance," Bracewell orders.

"Our new secret weapon, ha!" Winston laughs.

Peyton watches in horror as it slowly moves into sight. She remembers the confusion, the screaming, the gunfire. And one is just standing there, barely ten feet away.

"What do you think? Quite something eh?" Winston calls. The Doctor storms up to meet it and Peyton can feel her heart rate increase, her her hand finds Amy's sleeve, ready to pull her away and run. She watches as the Doctor whispers something to the Dalek to which it responds;

"I am your soldier."

It's chilling, robotic voice brings back memories of that day. It wasn't long before the Doctor came back to Leadworth. The day that no one but Peyton seems to remember. But her memories haunt her. It was the most terrifying day of her life. She huddled with her parents, Amy, and her aunt in their kitchen, not making a sound, silently praying to anybody out there for them to pass by their houses.

The Doctor makes a face of confusion and again mutters something under his breath.

"I am your soldier," the Dalek repeats.

"Stop it, stop it now!" The Doctor raises his voice, stepping toward it threateningly.

"Your identity is unknown."

Peyton finds it a bit frustrating only hearing one side of the conversation but she's still frozen in fear.

"Perhaps I can clarify," the Professor intercedes. The Doctor turns away from the Dalek, furrowing his eyebrows, deep in thought. "This is one of my Ironsides."

This makes the Doctor spin back around in confusion.

"Your what?"

"You will help the Allied cause in any way that you can?" Bracewell talks to the Dalek.

"Yes."

"Until the Germans have been utterly smashed?"

"Yes."

"And what is your ultimate aim?"

"To win, the war!"

• • •

"They're Daleks, they're called Daleks," the Doctor insists. Peyton looks over his shoulder at the blueprints on the desk, so intricate, so detailed in every last note. All evidence points to them having been created by the professor. But Peyton saw these these things in 2008 and they seemed much less compelled to protect the British nations two years ago.

"They are Bracewell's Ironsides, Doctor," Winston protests. "Look, blueprints, statistics, field tests, photographs. He invented them."

"Invented them? Oh, no, no, no!"

"Yes, he approached one of our brass hats a few months ago, fella's a genius!"

"A Scottish genius too," Amy smirks, Peyton gives her a nudge and shakes her head. "Maybe you should listen to-"

"-Shh!" The Doctor raises a finger and turns back to Churchill. "He didn't invent them, they're alien."

"Alien?" Winston raises an eyebrow. Peyton watches as one passes by the room, it's eyestalk peering at them but it keeps moving unassumingly.

"And totally hostile," the Doctor adds.

"Precisely, they will win me the war."

• • •

"Why won't you listen to me?" The Doctor tries to reason with him as they head for the main war room. "Why did you call me in if you won't listen to me?"

"When I rang you a month ago, I must admit, I had my doubts," Winston informs him. "The Ironsides seemed too good to be true."

"Yes, right!" The Doctor sighs exasperatedly. "So destroy them, _exterminate_ them!"

"But imagine what I could do with a hundred." Winston ignores him. "A thousand!"

"I am imagining." He glares at the Dalek moving past them. "Amy, Peyton tell him."

"Tell him what?" Amy asks before Peyton can get a word in.

"About the Daleks," Peyton says tentatively, unsure why she didn't get the context.

"What would we know about the Daleks?"

Peyton looks at her shocked.

"Everything," the Doctor encourages her. "They invaded your world, remember?"

Amy shows no sign of recollection.

"Amy, 2008, the ground shook, then there were planets in the sky, and those Dalek things," Peyton almost pleads, how can someone not remember these things?

"Amy," the Doctor says worriedly. "Tell me you remember the Daleks."

"No, sorry," she looks at them like they're insane. The Doctor simply looks at her for a long time.

"That's not possible," his eyes scan her face. "Why does Peyton remember and you..." He trails off before turning around before entering the room, seemingly completely forgotten about convincing Winston.

Peyton stares after him, unable to find any words. She looks to Amy, who is still regarding her with a concerned expression. Amy waves for Peyton to join her into the room, offering her hand. Peyton takes it.

The room is filled with phones ringing, people talking over each other and the muffled noise of bombs dropping not too far above. The Doctor, Peyton, and Amy lean against the wall, watching the Daleks.

"So, they're up to something but what is it?" The Doctor asks no one in particular. "What are they after?"

"Trying to integrate themselves into humanity then kill us all when their numbers are stronger?" Peyton suggests.

"Good theory," he doesn't look at her, staring into the distance, or rather, staring at the Dalek across the room.

"Well, clever is kind of my thing," Peyton shrugs.

"Well half Time Lord, that's cheating," he tuts.

"No, it is not," she raises her voice defensively.

"Let's just asks shall we?" Amy suggests. She walks away from the two of them toward a nearby Dalek.

"Amy, Amelia!" He calls after her warningly. She doesn't listen and proceeds to tap the Dalek's metal armour.

Its head turns and its eyestalk lifts to look up at her.

"Can I be of assistance?" It asks.

"Oh, yes, see, um, my friends reckon you're dangerous, that you're an alien, is it true?" Peyton is completely unnerved that someone can stand that close to the creature, not only that, she experienced how dangerous they and yet insists she has never seen them before.

Peyton knows that she's the only one who remembers. She's tried talking with her parents, with teachers, with Amy, with Mels, with Rory. No one knew what she was talking about. That just makes the sight of them so much scarier. How could they erase them from everyone on Earth's memory, but not hers. What makes her special?

"I am your soldier," it barks back.

"Yeah, I got that bit, love a squaddie, what else though?" She interrogates.

"Please, excuse me. I have duties to perform." And that's it. It turns and moves away.

"Wow that was rude," Amy scoffs.

"I reckon it's guilty and just doesn't want to talk," Peyton says as she walks toward her, watching the Doctor confront the Prime Minister.

"What do you and the Doctor mean, that I should know, that I should remember them?" She looks to Peyton, who sighs.

"There will be a better time but now, during the London Blitz? Maybe not," Peyton gives her a reassuring smile.

"World War II, hey?" She changes the topic. "Not my favourite period of history."

"I don't think it wins any prizes," Peyton jokes with a grimace, glancing warily at a Dalek. "But when duty calls."

"Is that what we do now? Is this our lives?" She smiles. "Running around until we bump into someone to save?"

"Apparently," she watches the Doctor as he pleads with Winston. "Hopefully."

An alarm rings through the city and the whole room collectively sighs in relief. Winston walks away from the Doctor and Amy runs up to him.

"Doctor, it's the all-clear," she calls to him.

"You okay?" Peyton asks as he fiddles with his fingers, his mind somewhere else.

"What does hate look like?" He asks out of the blue.

"Hate?" Peyton doesn't understand.

"It looks like a Dalek," he glares at one across the room. "And I'm going to prove it."

• • •

"All right, prof," the Doctor walks into the room uninvited. "Now the PM's been filling me in. Amazing things these Ironsides of yours, amazing, you must be very proud of them." He walks over to a workbench filled with papers about the Daleks and begins looking through them before sitting himself down on a nearby chair.

"Just doing my bit," he says modestly.

"Hmm, not bad for a Paisley boy," she says inspecting a wrench, clearly not knowing what she's doing. Peyton takes it off of her and puts it back down with a warning glance.

"Oh, yes, I thought I detected a familiar cadence, my dear," he laughs.

"How did you do it?" The Doctor interrupts. "Come up with the idea?"

"Well, how does a muse of invention come to anyone?" Bracewell asks, walking toward the three.

"But you get a lot of these clever notions, do you?" He throws the papers he was reading back on the table dramatically.

"Well ideas just seem to teem from my head," he explains, waving his hands around his skull. "Wonderful things like, let me show you," he walks to another bench to grab something, Amy follows him.

"You see, some musings on the potential hypersonic flight," he reads, Amy pick up something metal and covered in wires that she probably shouldn't touch and inspects it. The Doctor gets up and walks over to them and Peyton takes this as her queue to do the same. The Doctor snatches the paper from him as he picks up another.

"Gravity bubble that can sustain life outside of the terrestrial atmosphere, came to me in the bath," the professor continues. The Doctor immediately drops the first paper in favour of snatching the new one. No one at this time should be able to understand this level of science, Peyton hardly does.

"And are these ideas yours or theirs?" The Doctor presses further.

"Oh, no, no, no, these robots are entirely under my control Doctor, they are," he pauses as a Dalek arrives holding a platter of tea, he thanks it before continuing. "The perfect servant and the perfect warrior." He takes a sip of the tea.

"I don't know what you're up to professor but whatever they've promised you, you can not trust them. Call them what you like, the Daleks are death."

"Yes, Doctor! Death to our enemies!" Winston Churchill bellows as he enters the room. "Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich."

"Yes, Winston," he mocks. "And death to everyone else too."

"Would you care-"

The Doctor hits the platter of tea away before the Dalek can finish its sentence.

"- for some tea."

"Stop this!" The Doctor yells at it. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"

"We seek only to help you."

"To do what?" He says in a smaller voice.

"To win the war."

"Really? Which war?" He scoffs.

"I do not understand."

"This war against the Nazis, or your war, the war against the rest of the universe, the war against all life forms that are not Dalek?"

"I do not understand. I am your soldier."

"Oh yeah? Okay. Okay." He picks up a massive wrench that happened to be leaning against a pole. "Okay soldier, defend yourself."

"But, what-" Bracewell stutter as the Doctor raises the wrench above his head and brings it down on the Dalek. The loud clanging of metal against metal fills the small room as the Doctor unleashes his fury upon the alien.

"Doctor what are you doing?" Peyton yells but he pays no attention and continues striking the Dalek.

"You do not require tea?" It replies instead of fighting back.

"Stop him, Prime Minister, please," Bracewell begs.

"Doctor! What the devil? These machines are precious!" Winston shouts over the loud banging of metal on metal. Again, the Doctor pays no heed to anyone else in the room and instead, he screams in the Dalek's face.

"Oh come on then! Fight back! You want to don't you? You know you do.!"

"Doctor!" Peyton yells again but to no luck.

"What are you waiting for?" The Doctor roared. "Look," he slapped his chest. "You hate me, you want to kill me. Well go on. Kill me!"

Peyton steps forward, concerned but still in safe distance of the Doctor as he starts swinging the wrench again.

"Kill me!" He orders, taking another hit.

"Doctor, be careful!" Amy grabs his sleeve and pulls him back.

"Please desist from striking me. I am your soldier."

"You. Are. My. Enemy!" He punctuates each word with a blow to the Dalek. "And I am yours!" He leans in close to the eyestalk as if looking inside the creature.

"You are everything I despise," he pants, clearly worn out from his rage. "The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you time and time again, I've defeated you. I sent you back into the void. I saved the whole of reality from you." Clearly, it didn't take long to recover as he is back to shouting at the Dalek but thankfully has dropped the weapon. "I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks!" He jumps and kicks the Dalek, catching it by surprise and sending it back into a desk.

"Correct," it says slowly, it's fine completely different, like a switch was flipped in its head. "Review testimony." Somehow it plays back the previous conversation and Peyton hears the Doctor's voice speak through the Dalek.

"Testimony? What are you talking about, testimony?" He orders them to answer.

"Transmitting testimony now." The other Dalek in the room says.

"Transmit what, where?" The Doctor steps forward. The Doctor stops and whispers something under his breath.

"Testimony accepted," the second Dalek says.

"Get back all of you," the Doctor opens his arms and pushes Peyton and Amy behind him.

"Marines, marines! Get in here!" Churchill orders. Two men enter, but as soon as they do they are shot down.

"Stop it. Stop it please." Bracewell pleads. "What are you doing, you are my Ironsides."

"We are the Daleks," the nearest one says.

"But I created you!"

"No." It shoots Bracewell but unlike the marines, he doesn't crumple to the floor. Instead, he flies backwards, sparks coming from his left sleeve.

"We created _you_. Victory, victory, victory!"

And just like that, with a blinding white light, they disappear.

"What just happened Doctor?" Amy asks.

"I wanted to know what they wanted," the Doctor says, still in shock. "What their plan was. I was their plan."

And with that, he bolts from the room.

"Hey!" Peyton yells after him. She turns to Amy and they run after him together. It doesn't take long before Peyton realises he is heading back to the Tardis.

"Testimony accepted," he mutters to himself as he jumps down the stairs of the storage room. "That's what they said. My testimony."

"Doctor, you were right, don't beat yourself up," Amy reminds him. He unlocks the Tardis and turns around in the doorway to face the two of them.

"So what do we do?" Amy asks. "Is this what happens, we chase after them?"

"This is what I do, yeah," the Doctor takes a step back out toward the two girls. "And it's dangerous so you two, wait here."

"Wait, we stay here while you go off and have all the fun?" Peyton folds her arms. "Safe down here in the middle of the London blitz?"

"Safe as it gets around me," the Doctor admits. He waves and jumps into the Tardis and taking off without notice. Peyton and Amy watch as the Tardis slowly fades away in front of them. Peyton notices that Churchill has caught up, she can't remember when he got here.

"Well, what does he expect us to do now?" Amy says angrily.

"KBO of course," Winston says as he takes the cigar out of his mouth.

"What?" Peyton frowns.

"Keep buggering on."

• • •

"Prime Minister," a young woman calls as she enters the room, Peyton recalls Winston had earlier referred to her as Breen.

"Yes?" He answers.

"Signal from RDF sir," she hands him some papers. "Unidentified object, handing in the sky Captain Childers says. We can't get a proper fix though, it's too far up."

"What do you think Miss Pond, Miss Barrett? The Doctor's in trouble and now we know where he is," Winston flourishes the papers.

"Yep," Peyton smiles. "'Cause he'll be on that ship won't he?"

"Right in the middle of everything," Amy grabs Peyton's arm.

"Exactly," Winston points at the two of them with his cigar.

• • •

"The generators won't switch off," a young man raises the alarm, switching a board to say 'ALERT'. "The lights are on all across London, Prime Minister."

"Has to be them. Has to be the Daleks," Amy observes.

"That means the Germans can see us, every building," Peyton whispers, voice quavering, realising the real gravity of the situation.

"Every inch," Winston adds with regret. "We're sitting ducks." He turns to the young man. "Get those lights out before the Germans get here," he orders.

Peyton watches as the young men and women in the room scramble about with their radios trying to get hold of someone, anyone.

"Thousands will die if we don't get those lights out now," Churchill emphasises.

"German bombers sighted over the channel, sir," Breen reports. "ETA ten minutes, sir."

"Here they come," Winston sighs. "Get a message to Mr Attlee, war cabinet meeting at 0300 hours if we're all still here."

"We can't just sit here," Peyton pleads. "We've got to take the fight to the Daleks."

"How? None of our weapons are a match for theirs," Winston admits.

"Oh God, we must have something," Amy panics.

"But we do," Peyton realises, tapping Amy's shoulder.

"What?" She frowns.

"It's staring us in the face," Peyton turns Amy around to face Winston and she laugh. "A gift, from the Daleks." Both Amy and Winston's faces light up.

"Paisley," Amy smiles. Peyton nods to Churchill and takes Amy's sleeve before running off to Bracewell's workshop.

• • •

"Bracewell, put the gun down," Peyton says as she enters the room, seeing Bracewell fiddling with a gun.

"My life is a lie," he says flatly. "And I choose to end it."

"In your own time Paisley boy," Amy walks up to him. "Because right now we need your help."

"But those creatures, my Ironsides. They made me?" He whimpered. "I can remember things, so many things. The last war, the squalor and the mud and, And the awful, awful misery of it all. What am I? What am I?"

"What you are, sir, is either on our side or theirs," Churchill says in his ever-steady tone. "Now, I don't give a damn if you're a machine, Bracewell. Are you a man?"

"Listen to me," Amy bends down to Bracewell's level. "I understand, really, I do." She takes the gun from his hand. "Look, there is a Spaceship up there, lighting up London like it's a Christmas tree. Thousands of people will die tonight if we don't stop it, and you are the only one who can help us take it down."

"I, I am?" Bracewell stammers.

"You're alien technology," Peyton says. "You're as clever as the Daleks are, so, start thinking."

"What about rockets? You got rockets?" Amy asks. "Because you said gravity whatsits, hyper, uh, sonic flight. Some kind of missile."

"It isn't a fireworks party Miss Pond." Winston shakes his head. "We need proper, tactical. A missile, or,"

"Or what?" Amy asks excitedly.

"We could send something up there you say" Winston addresses Bracewell.

"Yes, well, with a gravity bubble yes." He passes the papers to the Prime Minister. "Theoretically it's possible that we could actually send something into space."

"Bracewell, it's time to think big."

• • •

Bombs come down like rain overhead, the chattering of the war room is tense, Peyton and Amy are waiting for a miracle.

"At last!" Winston cheers as Bracewell enters the room, pushing a trolley with, whatever it is, on it. "Are they ready?"

"I hope so. But in the meantime," he lifts what looks like a radio onto the table. "This will pick up Dalek transmissions."

Instead of a speaker the round screen sparks into life, showing a staticky picture and in the background what sounds like Daleks talking. The picture clears and Peyton sees the Doctor face to face with a Dalek, just as scary in the black and white picture as they are in real life.

"It's him, it's the Doctor." Amy leans forward to get a closer look. Peyton watches intently as the scene plays out, the Dalek talking with the Doctor occasionally butting in.

"He's got company," Peyton sighs, they seem to have gotten an upgrade, definitely taller and, something else she can't put her finger on. "New company, we've got to hurry up."

The phone in front of Peyton rings and the professor hastily picks it up. "Yes? Right. Right, thanks." He puts it back and looks back to the Prime Minister and the two girls from the future.

"Ready when you are, Prime Minister."

"Splendid," he smiles.

With a flip of a switch, the screen shows a radar with what can only be the earth and the Dalek ship above.

"The spaceship's exact co-ordinates located," Bracewell announces proudly.

"Go to it group captain, go to it!" Churchill orders. The officer picks up a radio headset and barks into it.

"Broadsword to Danny Boy. Broadsword to Danny Boy. Scramble. Scramble. Scramble."

Everything is a blur, everyone is running about and Peyton looks back to the professor's radar to see another object has entered the play.

She can't see much, only what the officers in the room are barking into their radios and the blurry dots on the tiny screen.

Soon there is only one left. Danny Boy against the Dalek ship. Peyton's hands curl up to grip the hems of her shirt, trying to hold on to the hope that this will work, it has to work.

"Direct hit, sir!" The group captain yells and the room erupts into cheers. Peyton throws her arms around Amy and laughs with her in sheer delectation that they aren't actually going to die in World War Two.

• • •

Without warning the Doctor runs into the room and punches Bracewell straight in the face.

"Doctor!" Peyton yells, surprised and shocked.

"Ow!" The Doctor cries, flailing his fist. "Sorry, professor, you're a bomb. An inconceivably massive Dalek bomb."

"What?" Bracewell yelps from the stone floor.

"There's an oblivion continuum inside you," the Doctor explains rapidly. "A captured wormhole that provides perpetual power. Detonate that, and the Earth with bleed through into another dimension." He drops to his knees and rips open his shirt to expose the professor's bare chest. "Now keep down." He pulls out his sonic screwdriver and scans him and like something out of a movie, Bracewell's chest folds open to expose a metal chest with a dial like window in the middle.

"Well?" Peyton stares down at what could be the destruction of the Human race, mere minutes after the last threat was eliminated.

"I dunno, I dunno, I dunno," The Doctor mumbles as he checks the readings on his screwdriver. "Never seen one up close before."

Well, that's helpful.

"So, what, they've wired him up to detonate?" Amy runs her hands through her hair.

"No, not wired him up. He is a bomb," the Doctor looks up at her. "Walking, talking, pow. Exploding. The moment that flashes red." He points to the dial on his chest that already has one segment lit yellow.

"There's a blue wire or something you have to cut isn't there?" Amy offers hopefully. "There's always a blue wire. Or a red one." His face falls.

"You're not helping," he decides.

"It's incredible, he talked to us about his memories. The Great War..." Winston trails off.

"Someone else's stolen thoughts implanted into a positronic brain." The Doctor shakes his head but then gets an idea.

"Tell me about it, Bracewell, tell me about your life," The Doctor drops back down to the floor beside him.

"Doctor, I really don't think this is the time," Bracewell whimpers.

"Tell me," the Doctor insists. "And prove you're human. Tell me everything."

"My family ran the post office," he stares at the ceiling above. "It's a little place just near the abbey, just by the ash trees. Used to be eight trees but there was a storm-"

"And your parents? Come on, tell me," he presses for something deeper.

"Er, good people. kind people, they, they died, Scarlet fever."

"What was that like? How did it feel?"

"Oh, please," he begs.

"How did it make you feel Edwin? Tell me, tell me now."

"Oh, it hurt. It hurt Doctor, it hurt so badly." Peyton's heart breaks for this man on the floor, so sad, so desperate. "It was like a wound. I thought it was worse than a wound, like I'd been emptied out. There was nothing."

"Good, remember it now Edwin. The Ash trees by the post office and your Mum and Dad and losing them, and the men in the trenches you saw die. Remember it. Feel it. You feel it because you're human. You're not like them, you're not like the Daleks."

"It hurts, Doctor. It hurts so much."

"Good, good, good. Brilliant," he encourages him. "Embrace it. That means you're alive. They cannot explode that bomb because you're a human being. You are flesh and blood. They cannot explode that bomb. Believe it!"

Peyton stands to the side as Amy walks over to the man's side and she bites her lip, anxiously glancing at the dial which has three segments lit red and another yellow.

"You are Professor Edwin Bracewell, and you, my friend, are a human being!"

In all logic that should have done it. But, four out of the five segments are now red and the Doctor has nothing.

"It's not working." The last one is yellow. "I can't stop it."

"Hey," Amy says quietly, crouching down on the other side of the man. "Paisley, ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?"

• • •

One by one the segments return to blue and Peyton erupts into laughter. She did it!

"Welcome to the human race," the Doctor smiles down at him. "You're brilliant," he beams at Churchill. "You're brilliant," he points to Bracewell. "You're outstanding," he winks at Peyton. "And you're..." he trails off, just instead leaning over to plant a kiss on Amy's forehead. "Now," he jumps up again. "Gotta stop them, stop the Daleks."

"Wait Doctor, wait," Bracewell sits up. "It's too late."

"What?" The Doctor turns around, slightly annoyed.

"Gone, they're gone," he pants.

"No, no! They can't," the Doctor protests. "They can't have got away from me again!"

"No, I can feel it," Bracewell nods. "My mind is clear. The Daleks have gone."

Peyton looks back to the Doctor. She cannot describe the look on his face. Disbelief? Sadness? Horror? He grips the pole next to him like a tether to reality.

"Doctor it's okay, you did it,"Amy intercedes. "You stopped the bomb."

"Doctor?" Peyton tests carefully when he doesn't respond.

"I had a choice," he mumbles, leaning his forehead against the pole. "They knew I'd choose Earth," he looks back to his companions. "The Daleks, have won. They've beaten me, they won."

"But you saved the Earth," Amy reminds him. "Not too shabby, is it?"

Doesn't say anything for a moment, simply gazing between the people standing in front of him

"Is it?" Amy repeats herself.

"No," the Doctor finally admits. "It's not too shabby."

"It's a brilliant achievement, my dear friend," Winston pulls something out of his jacket. "Here, have a cigar," he offers.

"No," he refuses hastily.

• • •

"Will you teach me all this?" Peyton asks, sitting on a workbench while the Doctor waves his sonic, pulling things apart.

"Teach you what?" He asks.

"All this alien stuff, the computers and the bad guys," Peyton tucks her hands under her thighs.

"Well, from what I can tell, you have your father's brain," he stops. "Well, hopefully not all of it, and your bivascular system suggests a longer than human lifespan even if you don't regenerate," he talks very fast, flapping his hands about. "So yeah," he turns back to her with a smile. "I think I can show you a thing or two."

Peyton laughs joyously. "Really? When will we ever have time?"

"Oh, it's not all running about stopping things from blowing up," he shakes his head. "I have a whole library. It's beautiful, I'll show you," he pauses his work to smile at her with a content grin. "Just you wait, Peyton Barrett."

• • •

"It's been a pleasure Doctor, as always," Winston smiles, putting his papers back on the desk.

"Too right," the Doctor chuckles. The two men embrace each other.

"Goodbye Doctor."

"Oh, shall we say adieu?"

"Indeed. Goodbye Miss Pond, Miss Barrett."

"It's, it's been amazing meeting you," Amy leans into Peyton a little bit, tucking her hands under her chin.

"I'm sure it has," he winks back at her.

"What she said," Peyton gazes fondly at her friend. Amy plants a kiss on the Prime Minister's cheek and he begins to walk away.

"Oi, Churchill" Peyton calls after him. She extends her hand with a raised eyebrow. "Tardis Key. The one you just took from the Doctor." The alien beside her almost chokes on his tea, slamming it down on the table to pat down his pockets.

"Oh she's good, Doctor," Winston smiles in defeat. "As sharp as a pin." Churchill places the silver key in her palm. "Almost as sharp as me."

Peyton and the Doctor share a smile.

"KBO," Winston makes a fist, putting his cigar in his mouth with his free hand.

Amy's gaze follows him out of the room but the Doctor extends his hand out toward Peyton and she innocently pretends she doesn't know what he wants. Peyton smiles at him, he simply smirks at her making the girl roll ber eyes and slam the key back into his hand.

• • •

"So you have enemies then?" Amy asks as the three of them approach the Tardis.

"Everyone's got enemies," he shrugs.

"Yeah, but mines the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russel," Amy walks beside Peyton addressing the Doctor. "You've got, you know, _arch_ enemies."

The time travellers lean against the front of the Tardis, shoulder to shoulder, simply contemplating the last couple of hours, now that the adrenaline has faded, Peyton realises how tired she is.

"I suppose so," the Doctor sighs.

"And here's me thinking we'd just be running through time, being daft and fixing stuff, but no, it's dangerous," Peyton contemplates.

"Yup. Very. Is that a problem?"

"We're still here aren't we?" Peyton laughs, nudging him with her shoulder. "You're worried about the Daleks." She can see it in his eyes, a far off-ness telling her that his mind is dwelling on other things.

"I'm always worried about the Daleks," he admits in a voice no louder than a whisper.

"It'll take time though, won't it? I mean, there's still not many of them," Amy tries to lift his spirits. "They'll need a while to build themselves up."

"It's not that," the Doctor turns to face her, sliding the Tardis key in the lock. "There's something else. Something we've forgotten, or rather you have."

"Me?" Amy looks confused.

"You didn't know them, Amy," he says seriously. "You'd never seen them before but Peyton had. She lived next door, Amy Pond. You should have remembered them."

Peyton watches Amy's face, she really doesn't remember.


	6. In The Tardis #1

"How don't you remember the Daleks?" Peyton asks Amy as the Doctor gets the Tardis into flight. "It was probably the scariest moment of my life. Twice technically."

  
"Twice?" Amy raises an eyebrow.

  
"Oh yeah, as well as being half alien Peyton is also from the future, well your past now," the Doctor explains.

  
"Long story, never mind," Peyton says. "But Amy, we hid together, we cried together," her voice breaks off as no recognition crosses her face.

  
"Well, that's a mystery for another day," the Doctor changes the subject. "Ladies, come with me," he spins and walks toward the staircase leading up into the depths of the Tardis. They had only been up here once, to change out of their sick covered outfits into something, cleaner. But, the Doctor takes them down another route and doesn't stop until suddenly he turns around, causing the two girls to bump into him.

  
"I hope you remember the way," he quizzes. Peyton and Amy look at each other guiltily.

  
"Look," he pulls his sleeve to check the times "It's been a while since I stole you away in the middle of the night, and, I assume you'll be staying with me for a while," he points his fingers at the two doors opposite each other.

  
"Bedrooms?" Peyton guesses. He smiles.

  
"The Tardis has bedrooms?" Amy asks. He frowns dissapointedly at her.

  
"This ship transcends all human knowledge and understanding, it has an infinite and ever changing system of rooms. Of course it has a few bedrooms somewhere, every living organism needs to sleep." He leans over to each door in turn, turning their handles quickly to let them fall open.

  
Peyton walks past him and peers into the room. It's small, cozy. A light wood bed with a plain yellow comforter, a sleek mirror and bedside table to match. She can't help but smile.

  
This is all she's dreamed about since hearing about the Doctor. Travelling with the last man who is like her, who can teach her.

  
"Alright," he claps his hands together. "Goodnight Pond, Peyton, a word."

  
Amy pouts from her doorway at the blonde girl as the Doctor walks away.

  
"Secret alien stuff?" She scoffs, Peyton laughs, giving her a hug.

  
"Night."

  
• • •

  
"I promised you a library and here it is," the Doctor throws open the third door in five minutes to finally reveal a library bigger and grander than any Peyton has seen in photos. The ceiling is at least 30 feet high and the tops of the dark stained wooden shelves nearly reach it. Ladders, desks and painting lie around everywhere and lamps along the walls illuminate the space.

  
"At least it isn't another bathroom or greenhouse," she laughs, using sarcasm instead of letting into her amazement.

  
"Not my fault," the Doctor insists. "New Tardis, Everything is in the wrong spot." He leads her into the room and pulls out a chair at the nearest desk for her. She takes in her surroundings and sink into the plush seat watching him draw up a stool on the other side.

  
"So I'm guessing school wasn't very much good for you," he leans his elbows on the desk and his chin on his fists.

  
"Uh, not really, top of the year in everything, religiously got one question wrong on every test, to throw off anyone calling me a genius and carting me off somewhere."

  
"What about when, you were with U.N.I.T," he says with a certain hostility. "Did they teach you much?"

  
"They had a couple of University professors teach me some stuff. A-level maths, Chemistry, quantum physics."

  
"In other words, miles behind," he drops his hands and leans over to her. "How old were you when you left?"

  
"Almost seven."

  
"See, even then you'd be considered a little slow but not terrible but look at you now. Eons behind." He leaps to his feet. "How many languages can you speak?"

  
"Uh, I learned French at school and I taught myself German in my spare time," she shrug. "Not perfect."

  
"Been alive twenty odd years and only know three languages?"

  
Peyton gives him a look trying to convey to him that he is being a little bit much.

  
"Sorry," he sits back down. "Earth, trying not to stand out."

  
There is a silence between the two of them for a while. He looks at Peyton like he's trying to understand how she works, taking her apart with his eyes.

  
"Where do you want to start?" He says finally.

  
"I want to know about you, my dad, your people. I want to know where I come from. Why there are no more." He smiles sadly at that.

  
"Wait here," he stands and moves his stool around next to her chair and runs off a few shelves away, coming back with a brown, leather-bound book.

  
"Peyton Barrett," he smiles at her. "This is your ancestry."


	7. The Day the Cracks in Time Came Back

"Wrong, wrong, bit right, mostly wrong. I love museums."

  
The three time travellers walk through the grand museum, looking at all the alien artefacts, Peyton's hands tucked into the pocket of her navy blue sweatshirt fiddling with the pen.

  
The Doctor gave it to her just before she retreated back to her room the night before. He had called it a sonic pen, however, his tone seemed a little biased to the superiority of his screwdriver. Simple point and think function, can unlock almost anything, except wood, and can microwave popcorn from 30 feet away.

  
"Yeah great," Amy complains. "Can we go to a planet now? Big Spaceship, Churchill's bunker. You promised us a planet next."

  
"Amy this isn't any old asteroid," he says, jumping from one glass case to another. "It's the Delirium Archive, the final resting place of the headless monks. The biggest museum ever. Peyton gets it, right?" He looks expectantly back at her.

  
"Uh, yeah, love looking at old stuff," Peyton replies sarcastically, he frowns at her. "You've got a time machine, what do you need museums for?"

  
"Wrong!" He shouts again, showing no sign he was paying attention, peering into a glass case. "Ooh, one of mine. Also, one of mine." He really doesn't have a long attention span.

  
"Oh, I see," Amy says disappointedly. "It's how you keep score."

  
The Doctor doesn't answer but instead moves over to another glass case with only a single rusted box inside. Peyton catches up to him slowly leaning against the case, not taking her hands out of the warmth of her jumper.

  
"Oh great, an old box," Amy rolls her eyes as she sees what they are looking at.

  
"It's from one of the old star liners," he explains. "A home box."

  
"What's a home box?" Peyton asks.

  
"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes." Peyton and Amy share a look of boredom. "Anything happens to the ship, the home box flies home with all the flight data."

  
"So?" Amy rests her head in her hand propped up on the case.

  
"The writing, the graffiti, old high Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords. There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires and topple gods."

  
"What does it say?" Amy gives in, just wanting to go do something fun, Peyton agrees with her silently.

  
"Hello sweetie," he shakes his head disappointedly. Neither of them say anything, the Doctor simply looks kind of let down. A message from his lost people and it's simply a 'hello'.

  
"So, we done yet?" Peyton asks hopefully.

  
"I need to figure out who sent me the message."

  
"And how are you gonna do that?" Amy raises an eyebrow.

  
"Uh, illegally," he whips out his screwdriver and points it at the glass with a frequency so high it shatters it, causing the museum alarms to ring. He picks up the home box and looks to the two girls.

  
"Run!"

  
• • •

  
"Remind me why we're robbing a museum?" Amy questions him as he sends the Tardis into flight.

  
"Because someone on a spaceship twelve thousand years ago is trying to attract my attention. Let's see if we can get the security playback working," he plugs the box into the Tardis, propping it up on the console. He flips a lever and they all look up to the screen.

  
A black and white image shows up. A woman in an evening dress looks up to the security camera and winks, okay that's odd. She walks off the screen and the Doctor adjusts the cords to find another camera to see where she went. Another image shows up, the same woman, this time at the end of a corridor. Someone off camera addresses her and she replies with a laugh. Peyton watches carefully, listening to their conversation when the Doctor springs into motion, typing furiously on a keyboard.

  
"What was that? What did she say?" Amy asks as the Doctor prepares to take the Tardis into flight.

  
"Co-ordinates!" He shouts with a grin. Peyton and Amy keep watching the monitor where they see the woman fly out of the airlock.

  
"Woo!" The Doctor laughs, running to the front of the Tardis and flinging the door open. Peyton runs to the railing, watching as he extends his hand into space, it can't be, the woman?

  
"Doctor?" Peyton asks for an explanation when the woman flies in, landing on top of the Doctor.

  
"River?" The Doctor looks up at the woman. River jumps back to her feet and looks back out the Tardis doors.

  
"Follow that ship!" She orders. And with no hesitation, the Doctor leaps back to the console and sends the box chasing after the ship.

  
River, Amy and Peyton follow him, well, Peyton and Amy kind of stand around, holding onto the console for balance while River, actually helps fly?

  
"They've gone into warp drive, we're losing them!" She yells. "Stay close."

  
"I'm trying!" The Doctor snaps at her.

  
"Use the stabilisers." She rolls her eyes at him.

  
"There aren't stabilisers!"

  
"The blue switches!"

  
"The blue ones don't do anything, they're just, blue!"

  
"Yes, they're blue. They're the blue stabilisers." She reaches over and presses them herself. And with that, the Tardis cools to a halt, it doesn't even feel like you're in flight. "See?"

  
"Yeah, well, it's just boring now isn't it. They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers," he says angrily.

  
Peyton shakes her head at them.

  
"Bickering like an old married couple," she whispers under her breath to Amy. She laughs.

  
"Reminds me of you and Mels," Amy laughs, causing Peyton to roll her eyes.

  
She walks up to the Doctor, keen to know more about this woman. "Doctor, how come she can fly the Tardis?" Peyton asks.

  
"You call that flying the Tardis? Ha!" He glares at River.

  
"Okay," River starts, clearly done with his childishness as he sits himself down on a chair, arms crossed grumpily. "I've mapped the probability vectors, down a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and, parked us right alongside."

  
"Parked us?" The Doctor raises an eyebrow. "We haven't landed."

  
"Of course we've landed. I just landed her," River looks up at the monitor proudly.

  
"But it didn't make the noise."

  
"What noise?"

  
"You know, the," then he proceeds to sort of imitate the Tardis' groaning sound as it lands and takes off. He looks to Amy and Peyton for support.

  
"It's not supposed to make that noise," she shakes her head. "You leave the brakes on."

  
"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise," he says defensively still looking to his companions for back up but Peyton makes it very clear she's not getting involved. "I love that noise. Come along Pond, Peyton. Love alliteration. Let's have a look." He begins to walk toward the door, still clearly grumpy.

  
"No, wait! Environment checks," River reminds him.

  
"Oh yes, sorry, quite right," he spins back around, Peyton can't help but detect some sarcasm in his actions. "Environment checks." He turns and walks down to the door poking his head outside. "Nice out."

  
"We're somewhere in the Garn belt, there's an atmosphere, early indications suggest-"

  
"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra system, oxygen-rich atmosphere, all toxins in the soft band, eleven hour day, and," he pokes his head outside again for dramatic effect. "Chances of rain later." He sauters back to the chair by the console.

  
"He thinks he's so hot when he does that," River scoffs.

  
"How come you can fly the Tardis?" Amy asks.

  
"Oh, I had lessons from the very best," she smiles. Peyton looks over to the Doctor sceptically.

  
"Well, yeah," he shrugs modestly.

  
"It's a shame you were busy that day." His face looks a lot less flattered. "Right then, why did they land here?"

  
"They didn't land," the Doctor replies.

  
"Sorry?"

  
"You should have checked the home box, they crashed," he jumps up from his seat and rushes to get the door for River. Peyton and Amy follow him but instead, he slams the door once River is outside and turns to the two of you before heading back up to the console.

  
"Explain," Amy demands. "Who is that and how did she do the museum thing?"

  
"It's a long story and I don't and I don't know most of it, off we go," he starts to get the Tardis ready for flight.

  
"What are you doing?" She accuses.

  
"Leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go."

  
"Are you basically running away?" Peyton teases.

  
"Yep."

  
"Why?"

  
"'Cause she's the future, my future," he snaps.

  
"Can you run away from that?" Amy asks.

  
"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me."

  
"Hang on, is that a planet out there?" Peyton gets an idea.

  
"Yes, of course it's a planet."

  
"You promised us a planet," she smiles cheekily and point a finger at him. He's cornered now. "Five minutes?"

  
"Okay, five minutes!" He gives in grudgingly. The girls sprint for the door. "But that's all, cause I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!"

  
He follows the two to the door, still scowling.

  
Peyton steps outside and sees the broken remains of the crashed spaceship, smoking furiously and precariously balanced on what seems to be a temple. The ground is seemingly a rocky plateau of some sort with burning bits of debris littered everywhere.

  
"What caused it to crash? Not me?" River wonders.

  
"Nah, the airlock would have sealed seconds after you blew it," the Doctor dismisses the thought, looking up at the wreckage. "According to the home box, the warp engines had a phase shift. No survivors."

  
"A phase-shift would have to be sabotage," River raises an eyebrow at him. "I did warn them."

  
"About what?"

  
Peyton and Amy stand behind the two feeling a little left out and useless. Peyton takes this opportunity to look around a bit more. A beach in the distance and a hill with some trees to the left. She can't really wrap her head around it. She's standing on an alien planet and yet, it feels so normal.

  
"Well at least the building was empty," River sighs, ignoring the Doctor's question. "Aplan temple, unoccupied for centuries."

  
The Doctor walks away from her, an uncomfortable look on his face.

  
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Peyton asks.

  
"Amy Pond, Peyton Barrett, Professor River Song."

  
"I'm going to be a professor someday, am I?" She gasps. "How exciting. Spoilers." The Doctor groans. 

  
"Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that?" Peyton asks. "She just left you a note in a museum."

  
"Two things always guaranteed to turn up in a museum," River says, imputing something on her small computer-like device. "The home box of a category four starliner and, sooner or later, him." She turns around and watches him walk back toward the Tardis. "It's how he keeps score."

  
"We know," Amy laughs.

  
"It's hilarious isn't it?"

  
"I'm nobody's taxi service," the Doctor says angrily, "I'm not going to be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship!"

  
"And you are so wrong," she smiles sweetly at him. He turns back again, trying to get away from her as soon as possible. "There's one survivor." That makes him stop. "There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die. Now he's listening." Peyton turns to see the Doctor's expression, regretful interest. If there's one thing she's learnt about the Doctor, he cannot resist a mystery.

  
River Song lifts the computer to her ear and begins talking into it like a phone.

  
"You lot in orbit yet?" She asks. "Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal. Doctor? Can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon." She lifts her device in the air and Peyton looks to see how the Time Lord will react.

  
With his every grumpy expression he grabs his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and points it at her. She curtseys.

  
"Oh Doctor, you soniced her!" Amy says cheekily.

  
"Peyton, could have done it," he mumbles.

  
"Ah no," she corrects him with a sly smile and in the same voice as Amy. "She specifically asked for you."

  
He glares at the pair of them.

  
"We have a minute," River calls. "Shall we?"

  
The two follow the Doctor as he makes his way toward the woman.

  
"Where are we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?"

  
"What's the book?" Amy leans over to have a look.

  
"Stay away from it," the Doctor warns.

  
"What is it though?"

  
"Her diary."

  
"Our diary," River corrects.

  
"Her past, my future," he glances at it bitterly. "Time travel, we keep meeting in the wrong order."

  
About twenty feet away, four pillars of light shine done from the sky and four men in camouflage uniforms appear on the ground. Only one, however, makes a move to approach the four of them.

  
"You promised me an army, Doctor Song," he says, glancing disapprovingly at the three people behind her.

  
"No, I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor." He salutes sarcastically.

  
"Father Octavian, sir. Bishop, second class. twenty clerics at my command." He shakes the Doctor's hand. "The troops are already in the dropship and landing shortly, Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation."

  
The Doctor simply looks back at the wreckage, trying to assess what's happening.

  
"Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?" Father Octavian asks.

  
"Doctor," River begins. "What do you know of the Weeping Angels?"

  
The look of horror on his face says it all.

  
• • •

  
"The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship," Father Octavian explains as they walk through what seems to be an impromptu base. "Our mission is to get inside and neutralise it. We can't get through up top. We'd be too close to the drives. According to this, behind this cliff face there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber and work our way up."

  
"Oh good," the Doctor says cheerfully.

  
"Good, sir?"

  
"Catacombs. Probably dark ones. Dark catacombs, great."

  
"Technically, I think it's called A Maze of the Dead."

  
"You can stop anytime you like."

  
"Father Octavian!" A soldier calls.

  
"Excuse me, sir," he walks away to see what needs attending to. The Doctor gets out his sonic and starts scanning the computer on the table in front of him.

  
"You're letting people call you sir, you never do that," Amy watches him carefully.

  
"So whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad yeah?" Peyton clarifies, pushing herself up to sit on the table.

  
"Now that's interesting," the Doctor mutters. "You're still here, both of you. Which part of 'wait in the Tardis till I tell you it's safe' was so confusing?"

  
"Ooh, are you all Mr Grumpy Face today?" Amy coos.

  
"A Weeping Angel is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life-form evolution has ever produced, and right now, one of them is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in after it with a screwdriver and a torch, and assuming I survive the radiation long enough, and assuming the whole ship doesn't just blow up in my face, do something incredibly clever, which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day. That's what I'm up to. Any questions?"

  
"Is River Song your wife?" Peyton asks, ignoring everything he just said. He just sighs disappointedly. "Cause she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that. She's kinda like, you know, 'heel boy!'"

  
"She's right isn't she?" Amy giggles. "She's Mrs Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she gonna be your wife someday?"

  
The Doctor looks at her tiredly, the way a parent would look at an annoying child.

  
"Yes, you're right. I am definitely Mr Grumpy Face today."

  
"Doctor!" Speaking of the devil. "Doctor!"

  
"Oops," Amy smiles. "Her indoors!" The Doctor grudgingly walks toward her, Peyton and Amy not hesitating to follow behind.

  
"Why do they call him Father?" Peyton asks him.

  
"He's their bishop, they're his clerics. It's the 51st century, the church has moved on."

  
The three duck inside the metal canister looking room where River is already standing, dressed in her own camo uniform, her hair thrown up into a ponytail and any trace of makeup gone from her face. Peyton can't deny that this side of her is just as beautiful as she was in her evening wear.

  
At the end of the room, there's a screen, playing what appears to be a looping clip of a stone figure, it doesn't take long for Peyton to understand why they call them Weeping Angels.

  
"What do you think? It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault, I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality, it's four seconds, I've put it on loop."

  
"Yep, it's an Angel," he says, clearly not happy about it. "Hands covering its face."

  
"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian asks.

  
"Uh, once, on Earth, a long time ago. But those were scavengers, barely surviving."

  
"But it's just a statue," Amy stares at the image sceptically.

  
"It's a statue when you see it," River nods.

  
"Where did it come from?" The Doctor questions.

  
"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razabahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all that time," River explains.

  
"There's a difference between dormant and patient," he says darkly.

  
"What does that mean, it's a statue when you see it?" Amy asks.

  
"The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen," River turns to her. "So legend has it."

  
"No, it's not legend. It's a Quantum lock," the Doctor corrects. Reaching up to grab something to lean his weight on but when he finds something, it rips from the ceiling under his weight causing him to stumble. He pretends not to notice. "I'm the sight of any living creature. The Angels literally cease to exist, they're just, stone. The ultimate defence mechanism."

  
"What, being a stone?" Peyton folds her arms across her chest.

  
"Being a stone, until you turn your back," he watches the picture carefully once more.

  
• • •

  
"The Hyperdrive would've split open on impact. That whole ship's gonna be flooded with drive burn radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms, deadly to almost any living thing," the Doctor explains as he jumps back outside.

  
"Deadly to an Angel?" Octavian asks.

  
"Dinner to an Angel. The longer we leave it there, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? Are they still around?"

  
"The Aplans. Indigenous life form. Died out four hundred years ago," River notes.

  
"Two hundred years later the planet was terraformed. Currently, there are six billion human colonists," Father Octavian adds.

  
"Woo! You lot, you're everywhere, you're like rabbits! I'll never get done saving you."

  
"Sir, if there's a clear and present to the local population-"

  
"Oh, there is. As bad as it gets," the Doctor doesn't even bother letting him finish his sentence. "Bishop, lock and load!"

  
"Berger, how are we doing on those explosives?" He calls to a soldier. "Doctor Song, with me."

  
"Two minutes," she promised. "Sweetie, I need you."

  
Peyton watches the Doctor mouth the word 'Sweetie' to himself.

  
"That's you stupid," Peyton rolls her eyes, laughing lightly. He turns to follow her and so Peyton decides to tag along.

  
"I found this," River tosses a battered book at the Doctor. "Definitive work on the Angels, well, the only one. It's written by a madman, it's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages."

  
"Not bad, bit slow in the middle, didn't you hate his girlfriend?" So clearly he's read it. "No, no, hang on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," he lifts the book to his nose and takes a long sniff.

  
"Doctor Song?" Amy calls from near the canister. Amy, you forgot about Amy. "Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?" She asks.

  
"No just the four seconds," she replies before turning back to the table.

  
"This book is wrong, what's wrong with this book? It's wrong."

  
"You're holding it upside down for a start," Peyton suggests. He flips it the right way up.

  
"No, something else," he mutters, inspecting the pages.

  
"It's so strange when you go all babyface," River comments. "How early is this for you?"

  
"Very early," he says simply.

  
"So you don't know who I am yet?"

  
"How do you know who I am? I don't always look the same." He told Peyton about Time Lord regeneration, she wondered if she could do it too, half Time Lord and all. Well, knowing her luck, you just got the hearts and the brain, nothing too supernatural. She realises how strange it is that she's gotten to the point that having two hearts isn't supernatural to her.

  
"I've got pictures of all your faces," she smiles. "You never show up in the right order though, I need the spotter's guide."

  
"Pictures," the Doctor realises. "Why aren't there pictures?" Peyton leans over and scans the pages, he's right. "This whole book, it's a warning about the Weeping Angels. So why no pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?"

  
"There was that bit about images, what was that?" She reminds him.

  
"Yes! Hang on," he flips toward the back of the book. "That which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel," he reads.

  
"What does that mean?" Peyton asks. "An image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel?"

  
"Doctor! It's in the room!" A muffled shout calls.

  
"Amy!" Peyton and the Doctor shout together. He runs up to the door.

  
"Are you alright, what's happening?" He yells.

  
"Doctor! Doctor, it's coming out of the television! The Angel is here."

  
The Doctor gets out his sonic and tries the door to no luck.

  
"Keep your eyes on it, it can't move if you're looking!" He yells.

  
"What's wrong?" River asks as he abandons the keypad by the door.

  
"Deadlocked, Peyton!"

  
"Right yeah," she calls, fumbling to get the sonic pen out her pocket and follows him to a control panel.

  
"There is no deadlock," River argues.

  
"Don't blink Amy! Don't even blink!"

  
"What are you doing?" River questions.

  
"I'm cutting the power, it's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off," he pulls at the cords and plugs. "It's no good, it's deadlocked the whole system."

  
"There is no deadlock!"

  
"There is now!" Peyton objects.

  
"Help me!" Amy shrieks.

  
"Can you turn it off?" The Doctor asks.

  
"I tried."

  
"Try again but don't take your eyes off the Angel," he instructs.

  
"I'm not!"

  
"If something moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink!"

  
"I'm not blinking! Have you ever tried not blinking?"

  
Peyton sees River uses a blow torch to try cut through but the surrounding metal doesn't give any sign it's heating up.

  
Peyton struggles with the control box again, trying her hardest to tug at the wires and plugs but it feels like they're cemented in.

  
"It just keeps switching back on!" She screams.

  
"Yeah, it's the Angel," the Doctor rushes to find something, anything to help.

  
"But it's just a recording."

  
"Amy, anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel," Peyton yells back.

  
"What are you doing?" The Doctor asks River.

  
"Trying to cut through. It's not even warm." Peyton can hear the panic in her voice.

  
"There is no way in, it's not physically possible," he lectures her.

  
"Doctor, what's it going to do to me?"

  
"Just keep looking at it, don't stop looking!"

  
He rushes off to the table again. The book.

  
"Just tell me. Tell me! Tell me!"

  
"Amy not the eyes," he calls back. "Look at the Angel but do not look at the eyes."

  
"What is it?" Peyton abandons the box and run to his side.

  
"The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors, beware what may enter there," he reads.

  
"Doctor what did you say?"

  
"Don't look at the eyes!" Peyton repeats.

  
"No, about images, what did you say about images?"

  
"Whatever holds the image of an Angel is an Angel," River calls to her. They don't hear anything else from Amy, Peyton dodges past the Doctor to puts her ear against the door.

  
Under her, she feels a click and instinctively she tries the handle and it glides under her touch, causing her to almost fall into the room. She sees Amy, still staring at the screen, now blank. She turns around and sees River and the Doctor run into the room.

  
"I froze it," she says like she almost doesn't believe it. "There was a sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip." The Doctor rushes to the screen, pulling the plug easily, scanning it then the screen. "That was good yeah?" She laughs. "It was, wasn't it. That was pretty good."

  
"That was amazing," Peyton smiles.

  
"River, hug Amy," he orders.

  
"Why?" Amy asks.

  
"Because I'm busy."

  
"I'm fine."

  
"You're brilliant," River takes her hands.

  
"Thanks. Yeah, I kind of creamed it didn't I?" She glares at the Doctor.

  
"So it was here? That was the Angel?" River asks.

  
"That was a projection of the Angel," he corrects. "It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant."

  
An explosion in the distance causes them run outside behind the Doctor to see what's happened.

  
"Doctor, we're through," Octavian calls. Okay, just River's lot then, not a ship about to crush them.

  
"Okay," the Doctor turns to the three of them. "Now it starts." Peyton follows him to the hole. A soldier hands her a torch and points to a precarious rope ladder.

  
"Thanks," she mumbles to him, looking wearily down into the darkness.

  
"Ladies first," the Doctor winks. Peyton just glares at him before taking the hand of another soldier to help you onto the ladder.

  
As soon as Peyton's feet touch the stone floor, she flicks her torch on and looks around. Stone walls, stone floor, stone roof. She feels a hand on her shoulder and sees it's the Doctor, giving her a reassuring smile.

  
"Do we have a gravity globe?" He asks no one in particular.

  
"Grav globe," Octavian orders and a soldier pulls a white sphere out of a satchel and hands it to the Doctor.

  
"Where are we? What is this?" Amy asks as she walks over to Peyton and the Doctor.

  
"It's an Aplan mortarium, sometimes called a Maze of the Dead.

  
"What's that?"

  
"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone," The Doctor dropkicks the globe like a football. It rises up into the air and hangs there for a second before emitting a bright light, illuminating the cavern. "Ha, ha. The perfect hiding place."

  
And it is. Peyton looks up at all the statues decorating the walls. This is going to a challenge.

  
"Well, I guess this makes it a bit tricker," Father Octavian puts her thoughts into words.

  
"Ha, a bit yeah."

  
"A stone Angel loose among stone statues, a lot harder than I had prayed for," he shakes his head.

  
"A needle in a haystack," Peyton mutters.

  
"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, uh, statues. No. Yours was fine," the Doctor concedes.

  
"Right, check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection," Octavian orders his clerics. "One question," he addresses the Doctor. "How do we fight it?"

  
"We find it, and hope," he waves his torch around and runs off. Peyton decides the best way of staying alive is to be near the Doctor so she grabs Amy by the sleeve and catches up to him.

  
They walk in silence, River decided to come along too. Peyton follows close behind the Doctor with Amy and River a little ways behind.

  
"So the Weeping Angels were on Earth before?" Peyton asks him.

  
"Yeah, once, hopefully. Got stuck in the sixties with Martha."

  
"Who's Martha?" She asks.

  
"An old friend." He doesn't look at her.

  
"Like my dad."

  
"Your father and I," he pauses. "Had a strange relationship. But no, Martha was human."

  
"Meaning?" Peyton points her torch at his face.

  
"He tried to take over a planet, I'd stop him, we'd flirt, he'd try to destroy a star system, I'd stop him again. But it's fine. He's gone now."

  
"Right," she raises an eyebrow, not satisfied. "What do you mean gone? Dead?"

  
"Listen, Peyton, you're very good at convincing people to tell you things and do things you want them to," he glances at her frustratedly. "You get that from your father. He could always make people do anything he wanted. Do not abuse this gift," he points his sonic warningly at her.

  
"Got it," she nods. "But my father?"

  
"Sent back to the final day of the Time War. He can't come back. None of them can."

  
Peyton nods solemnly. No matter how much people keep telling her how terrible he was, she can help shake that last bit of familial yearning to see her flesh and blood. That scares her.

  
"Yes, we are," River calls.

  
"Sorry, what?" The Doctor calls back, not looking away from what he's fiddling with.

  
"Talking about you."

  
"I wasn't listening. I'm busy."

  
"Ah, the other way up," River says unconvinced. The Doctor spins the computer he's looking at. "Peyton, can you come here a sec?"

  
"Sure?" She says, bouncing down to them. River pulls out a short syringe.

  
"This won't hurt a bit," she nods to Amy to grab her wrist then pulls up Peyton's sleeve to jab it into her bicep.

  
"Ow!" Peyton yelps.

  
"She lied," Amy says with a face indicating River did the same to her.

  
"That will help with the radiation from the ship. I didn't know how much you'd need so I just gave you the regular human dose," she explains.

  
"Wait, how do you know?" Peyton pulls her sleeve back down, rubbing the spot through the fabric. River makes a face indicating she wasn't meant to say that.

  
"Good to know I'm in the Doctor's future too," she smiles happily at her grumpy face.

  
"Are you his wife?" Amy asks, clearly unable to let the subject go.

  
"Oh, Amy, Amy, Amy. This is the Doctor we're talking about. Do you really think it could be anything that simple?" She smiles, still shining her torch at the Doctor. He looks at her, clearly able to hear the conversation.

  
"Yep," Amy says.

  
"You're good," River admits. "I'm not saying you're right, but you are very good."

  
• • •

  
They venture further through the tunnels. Peyton shines her torch on each of the statue's faces, looking for any sign of the Angel.

  
Rapid gunfire rings out from the main cavern they started in and the four-run back. Did they find it?

  
"Sorry," a young voice says a "Sorry, I thought it looked at me." False alarm. Peyton doesn't know whether to be pleased or still on edge.

  
"We know what the Angel looks like, is that the Angel?" Octavian lectures him.

  
"No, sir."

  
"No, sir, it is not. According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil. So it would be good, it would be very good if we could all remain calm in the presence of decor."

  
"What's your name?" The Doctor asks.

  
"Bob, sir," the young cleric replies.

  
"Ah, that's a great name. I love Bob."

  
"It's a sacred name," Octavian explains. "We all have sacred names. They're given to us in the service of the Church."

  
"Sacred Bob," he walks up to them. "More like scared Bob now eh?"

  
"Yes, sir."

  
"Ah, good, scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron," he pats his shoulder. "Carry on."

  
"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes," Octavian announces. "You will stay with Christian and Angelo," he talks directly to Bob. "Guard the approach." Bob looks like he is about to say something to argue but bites his tongue instead.

  
• • •

  
"Isn't there a chance this lot's just gonna collapse?" Peyton worries as she follows the Doctor into the maze. "There's a whole ship up there."

  
"Incredible builders the Aplans," River assures her.

  
"Had dinner with their chief architect once," the Doctor remembers. "Two heads are better than one."

  
"What, you mean you helped him?" Amy asks.

  
"Uh, no. I mean he had two heads. That book, the very end, what did it say?"

  
"Ah, hang on," River says, passing Peyton her torch so she can get the book out of her bag.

  
"Read it to me."

  
"What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true the time will be upon us, the time of Angels," she reads.

  
• • •

  
"Are we there yet?" Amy complains. "It's a hell of a climb."

  
"The Maze is on six levels representing the ascent of the soul," River explains. "Only two levels to go."

  
"Lovely species the Aplans," The Doctor comments. "We should visit them sometime."

  
"I thought they were all dead," Amy frowns.

  
"So is Virginia Woolf and I'm on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. Well, that's having two heads of course. You're never short of a snog with an extra head."

  
"Doctor, there's something. I don't know what it is," River interrupts.

  
"Yeah, there's something wrong," the Doctor agrees. "Don't know what it is yet either. Working on it. Of course, then they started having laws against self marrying. I mean what was that about," he gets distracted. "But that's the Church for you. Uh, no offence, Bishop."

  
"Quite a lot taken, if that's alright Doctor."

  
"Lowest point of the wreckage is about 50 feet up from here," Father Octavian announces after a few minutes of walking in near silence.

  
"Church has a point if you think about it, the divorces must have been messy," Amy says, Octavian does not look impressed.

  
"Oh," the Doctor gasps.

  
"What's wrong?" Peyton looks toward where his torch is pointing, the head of one of the Aplans. The head. Not plural.

  
"Oh," she echoes.

  
"Oh," River joins in.

  
"Exactly," The Doctor looks between the two of them.

  
"How could we not notice that?" River marvels.

  
"Low-level perception filter, or maybe we're thick," the Doctor speculates.

  
"What's wrong sir?" Octavian asks.

  
"Nobody move, nobody move," the Doctor warns. "Everyone stay exactly where they are. Bishop, I am truly sorry, I've made a mistake and we are all in terrible danger."

  
"What danger?" He asks.

  
"The Aplans," Peyton whimpers.

  
"The Aplans?" He repeats not trusting her judgement.

  
"They've got two heads."

  
"Yes, I get that so?"

  
"So why don't the statues?" River asks rhetorically.

  
"Everyone over there," the Doctor orders, pointing his torch to where Father Octavian is standing."Just move. Don't ask questions. Don't speak."

  
Peyton moves behind the bishop, waiting for the Doctor's next move, never taking her eyes off the statues.

  
"Okay, I want you all to switch off your torches."

  
"Sir?"

  
"Just do it." Peyton clicks the button without hesitation and one by one the lights go out, except for the Doctor's. "Okay, I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."

  
"Are you sure about this?" River questions.

  
"No." And with that, he switched his torch on and off again. Peyton gasps, turning her torch back on immediately when you see all the statues turned toward them.

  
"Oh my god, they've moved," Amy turns her torch back on too.

  
"They're Angels. All of them," the Doctor confirms.

  
"They can't be," River disagrees.

  
"Clerics, keep watching them," he orders. He runs off and Peyton instinctively follows him.

  
"Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel," he says horrified. "And they're coming after us."

  
• • •

  
"There was only one Angel on the ship I swear," River says when they rejoin the group.

  
"Could they have been here already?" Peyton suggests.

  
"The Aplans. What happened, how did they die out?" The Doctor asks.

  
"Nobody knows," River says grimly.

  
"We know," he sighs.

  
"They don't look like Angels," Octavian points out.

  
"And they're not fast, you said they were fast," Amy adds. "They should've had us by now." A reassuring thought.

  
"Look at them. They're dying. Losing their form. They must have been done here for centuries, starving," the Doctor speculates.

  
"Losing their image," River realises.

  
"And their image is their power," he says as he inspects one. "Power, power!"

  
"Doctor?"

  
"Yeah, don't you see? All that radiation spilling out, the drive burn. The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission for the Angels. We're in the middle of an Army. And it's waking up."

  
"We need to get out of here fast," River says.

  
"Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in please," Octavian barks into his radio. "Any of you, come in!"

  
"It's Bob, sir, sorry, sir," Bob's voice crackles over the radio.

  
"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active."

  
"I know sir, Angelo and Christian are dead sir. The statues killed them."

  
The Doctor snatches the radio from his hand.

  
"Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?"

  
"I'm talking to my-"

  
"Yep, yep, yep, yep, shut up," he cuts Octavian off.

  
"I'm on my way up to you sir," Bob says. "I'm homing I'm on your signal."

  
"Ah well done Bob, scared keeps you fast. Told you didn't I? Your friends Bob, what did the Angel do to them?"

  
"Snapped their necks, sir."

  
"See, that's odd, that's not how the Angels kill you, they displace you in time, unless they needed bodies for something."

  
"Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan," Octavian says as he snatches the radio back.

  
"Oh don't be an idiot," the Doctor grabs the radio again. "The Angels don't leave you alive. Bob keep running, but tell me, how did you escape?"

  
"I didn't escape sir, the Angel killed me too."

  
Nobody in the room makes a sound.

  
"What do you mean the Angel killed you too?"

  
"Snapped my neck sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick so that was something."

  
"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?"

  
"You're not talking to me sir, the Angel has no voice. It stopped my cerebral cortex from my body and reanimated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry for the confusion."

  
"So when you say you're on your way up to us-"

  
"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes."

  
"No way out." He turns off the radio and throws it back to Father Octavian.

  
"Then we get out through the wreckage," he orders. "Go, go, go, run!" Peyton never liked following orders but this one she can get behind.

  
They come out onto a landing and look around, up, what can only be a ship, the walls, teeming with Angels, and the floor, not much of it.

  
"Well, There it is, the Byzantium," Father Octavian mutters.

  
"It's got to be 40 feet up, how do we get up there?" River asks.

  
"Check all these exits, I want them secure," he orders his clerics.

  
"Wait where's the Doctor, and Amy?" Peyton asks, looking back down the tunnel, she steps toward it but River grabs her arm.

  
"If I let you go back there, the Doctor will kill me, stay here, they'll be along," she says.

  
"Yeah, if they don't die," she goes to make another move but River stands in front of her.

  
"Peyton, stay here," she orders. Peyton glares at her before looking back down the tunnel.

  
"The statues are advancing along all corridors," a cleric reports. "And, sir, my torch keeps flickering."

  
"They all do," Octavian shakes his head. "Even the gravity globe. Clerics, we're down to four men, expect incoming."

  
"Yep it's the Angels, they're coming," the Doctor appears out of nowhere and Amy too. Peyton smiles at her and she stands close, reassuringly. "And they're draining the power for themselves."

  
"Which means we won't be able to see them," Octavian groans.

  
"Which means we can't stay here."

  
"There are two more, incoming!" A cleric yells.

  
"Suggestions?" River asks the Doctor.

  
"The statues are advancing on all sides," Octavian reports. "And we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium."

  
"There's no way up, no way back, no way out," Peyton realises.

  
"No pressure, but this is usually when you have a really good idea," River glances at the Doctor.

  
"There's always a way out, there's always a way out," he mumbles to himself. "There's always a way out."

  
"Doctor, can I speak to the Doctor please?" the Angel speaks through the radio.

  
"Hello Angels, what's your problem?"

  
"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly, sorry, sir."

  
"Why are you telling me this?"

  
"There's something the Angels are very keen for you to know before the end."

  
"Which is?"

  
"I died in fear."

  
"I'm sorry?"

  
"You told me my fear would keep me alive, but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you and when it mattered, you let me down."

  
"What are they doing?" Peyton whispers to River.

  
"They're trying to make him angry," she replies, not taking her eyes off him.

  
"I'm sorry sir, the Angels were very keen for you to know that."

  
"Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake, because I'm not gonna let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier."

  
"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."

  
"Yeah I'm trapped, and you know what? Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great, big mistake in it. A great big whopping mistake!" He yells.

  
"What mistake sir?"

  
He turns to Peyton.

  
"Trust me?"

  
"Yeah," she answers.

  
"Trust me, Pond?"

  
"Yup."

  
"Trust me?" He asks River.

  
"Always."

  
"You lot, trust me?" He addresses the clerics.

  
"We have faith, sir," Octavian nods.

  
"Then give me your gun." Octavian hands it to him and the Doctor fiddles with it. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do, jump."

  
"Jump where?" Octavian asks.

  
"Just jump," he demonstrates. "High as you can, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."

  
"What signal?"

  
"You won't miss it," he points the gun at the ceiling and Peyton still has no clue what he's up to.

  
"Sorry, sir, can I ask again?" The Angel speaks into the radio. "You mentioned a mistake we've made?"

  
"Oh, big, big mistake. Really huge. Didn't anyone ever tell you, there's one thing you never put in a trap? If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."

  
"And what would that be, sir?"

  
"Me!"  
  


_Bang!_

  
He shoots the gun at the gravity globe and Peyton jumps as high as she can...

  
And she comes back down, landing on her side rather than her feet. She looks around and then hesitantly, up. How?

  
"What happened?" Amy asks, getting to her feet.

  
"We jumped," River looks around as she regains her bearings.

  
"Jumped where?" Amy is still confused.

  
"Up. Up, look up," the Doctor says.

  
"Where are we?" Amy asks.

  
"Exactly where we were," Peyton grins, the answer forming in her head.

  
"No we're not," she argues.

  
"Move your feet," the Doctor orders Amy. "Peyton?"

  
Peyton crouches down with him and pulls out her sonic pen, scanning what seems to be a porthole. The green and blue lights mingle and electronic buzzing fills the air. Just like he told her, you think 'open', and it's strange, she can almost feel the system locking her out.

  
"Doctor, what am I looking at? Explain." Amy demands.

  
"Oh, come on Amy, think!" The Doctor looks up at her. "The ship crashed with the power still on, yeah? So what else is still on? The artificial gravity. One good jump and up we fell. Shot out the grav-globe to give us an updraft and here we are!"

  
"Doctor, the statues look more like Angels now," Octavian reports. Peyton stops what she's doing and look up, or, down really, he's right, and they're climbing.

  
"They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage," the Doctor explains. "Draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves. Within an hour they'll be an army."

  
The hatch opens and the Doctor gives Peyton a reassuring pat on the back. But to ruin the good mood, one by one, the lights start to blow.

  
"They're taking out the lights," Octavian yells. More like Father Obvious.

  
"Look at them, look at the Angels," the Doctor instructs. Peyton looks up but it's no use. Every time the lights flicker they advance, little by little. "Into the ship, now, quickly, all of you!"

  
"But how? Doctor!" Peyton yells as he jumps down into the hatch. She peers into the hole and realises he's standing sideways.

  
"It's just a corridor, the gravity orientates to the floor," he explains. "Now, in here, all of you, don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move!"

  
Peyton sits on the edge of the hole and dangles her legs through, hoping for the best, she pushes herself down and she soon finds herself crouching on the floor.

  
"See?" The Doctor shakes his head at her. "Come here," he ushers her over to him as Amy, River and the clerics jump down.

  
"Okay men, go, go, go!" Octavian orders. "The Angels, presumably they can jump too?" He asks the Doctor as he scans some sort of panel in the wall. The hatch closes, that must have been him.

  
"They're here, now," the Doctor looks at him darkly. "In the dark we're finished, run!" An alarm blares and the door at the end of the corridor closes.

  
"This whole place is a death trap!" Octavian yells.

  
"No, it's a time bomb," the Doctor argues. "Well it's a death trap and a time bomb, and now it's a dead end. Nobody panic." He looks around the room, everyone looking at him expectantly. "Oh, just me then, what's through there?" He asks River.

  
"Secondary flight deck," she doesn't take her eyes off the hatch.

  
"Okay, we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah?" Amy says sarcastically. "So what if the gravity fails?"

  
"I've thought about that," he nods.

  
"And?" Peyton asks.

  
"And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See, thought about it. The security protocols are still live, there's no other way to override them, it's impossible."

  
"How impossible?" River asks, fiddling with a box on the wall.

  
"Two minutes." He begins to work on the door but Peyton hears the sound of a machine powering down the hatch opening.

  
"The hull is breached and the power's failing," Octavian notifies the Doctor.

  
"Sir, incoming!"

  
"Doctor, lights!" Peyton yells. The Doctor tries to get them back online again but they keep flickering, allowing the Angel to advance. Peyton pulls out her sonic pen again and points it at the lights, trying to force them to stabilise. The system refuses to bend to her will. She lowers the pen, defeated.

  
"Clerics keep watching them," Octavian instructs.

  
"And don't look in their eyes. Anywhere else, not the eyes," the Doctor warns. "I've isolated the lighting grid, they can't drain the power now."

  
"Good work Doctor," Octavian nods.

  
"Yes, good, good, good. Good in many ways. Good you like it so far."

  
"So far?" Amy questions.

  
"Well, there's only one way to open this door," he says regretfully. "I guess I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control."

  
"Good, fine, do it," Octavian shrugs.

  
"Including the lights, all of them," he walks past Peyton, taking a good look at the Angels, now frozen in position, unable to harm the lights. "I'll need to turn out the lights."

  
"How long for?" Peyton asks.

  
"Fraction of a second, maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer."

  
"Maybe?" Octavian asks, unimpressed.

  
"Well, I'm guessing. We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship. There isn't a manual for this!" The Doctor says frustratedly.

  
"Doctor, we lost the torches. We'll be in total darkness," Amy groans.

  
"No other way!" He yells at her.

  
"Doctor Song, I've lost good clerics today, you trust this man?" Octavian leans over her.

  
"I absolutely trust him."

  
"He's not some kind of madman then?"

  
"I absolutely trust him." The Doctor smiles at that before refocusing his attention on the door. Peyton watches suspiciously as Octavian leans close to River, whispering something in her ear.

  
"Okay, Doctor, we've got your back," Octavian stares at the statues.

  
"Bless you, bishop," he smiles, motioning Peyton to hand him the cord hanging behind her head from the box on the wall.

  
"Combat distance, ten feet," he orders his clerics. "As soon as the lights go down, continuous fire. Full spread over the hostiles. Do not stop firing while the lights are out. Shotgun protocol. We don't have bullets to waste."

  
"Peyton, when the lights go down, the wheel should release. Spin it clockwise, four times. Amy, you help."

  
"Ten," she says.

  
"No, four, four turns."

  
"Yeah, four, I heard you." Peyton looks at her carefully, unsure of what she meant.

  
"Ready?" The Doctor shouts, shoving his screwdriver into the box, ready for the signal.

  
"On my count then," the bishop stares at the Angels. "God be with us all. Three, two, one. Fire!"

  
The lights go down and the corridor is pitch black. Peyton pulls at the wheel on the door and it moves under her. The sound of rapid gunfire fills her ears and every cell in her body is on edge.

  
"It's opening! It's working!" Amy yells as the door begins to slide open. A sliver of light enters the room from the corridor beyond.

  
"Fall back!" The Doctor yells and Peyton quickly ducks through the gap, Amy quickly following her. One by one, the clerics squeeze through and finally the Doctor. Peyton keeps running to the next door which opens a lot easier without stone Angels draining the power.

  
Beyond the door is the flight deck, a thick layer of dust on everything and wires everywhere, clearly not used often. Peyton rushes to the console with the Doctor, River and Amy, the clerics standing around the room in defensive positions.

  
The wheel on the door that they just came through starts to turn.

  
"Doctor!" Peyton yells. They're so fast. Octavian kneels down next to the door and places something just above the wheel. "What are you doing?"

  
"Magnetised the door. Nothing could turn that wheel now."

  
"Yeah?" The Doctor shakes his head. The wheel starts to slow again, definitely slower this time though.

  
"Dear God!" He gasps.

  
"Ah, now you're getting it," the Doctor fiddles with the buttons on the console, trying to get something working. "You've bought us time though. That's good. I am good with time."

  
"Doctor!" Amy shouts when she spies another door's wheel moving.

  
"Seal that door. Seal it now!" Octavian orders.

  
"We're surrounded," River realises as the third door starts to move.

  
"Seal it! Seal that door! Doctor, how long have we got?"

  
"Five minutes max," he estimates, typing furiously.

  
"Nine," Amy says.

  
"Five," the Doctor corrects.

  
"Five, right, yeah," Amy shakes her head. Peyton's suspicious now.

  
"Why'd you say nine?" Peyton asks.

  
"I didn't."

  
"We need another way out of here," River looks to the Doctor.

  
"There isn't one," Octavian's voice wavers.

  
"Course there is," the Doctor disagrees. "This is a galaxy-class ship, goes for years between planet falls. So, what do they need?"

  
"Of course," River understands. Well, that's helpful because Peyton doesn't.

  
"Of course what? What do they need?" Amy looks at the two of them.

  
"Can we get in there?" Octavian asks. Great. Everyone in the room knows except Peyton and Amy. Well, everyone is from the future she guesses.

  
"Well, it's a sealed unit but they must have installed it somehow," the Doctor turns and looks at the opposite wall, now that she thinks about it, it does kind of look like a door. He runs over to it. "This whole wall should slide up. There's clamps! Release the clamps! Peyton, get those two. Think release."

  
Peyton rushes over and points her sonic at the far clamp. Almost instantly it releases and she moves to the other one, meeting in the middle with the Doctor and he gives her a double high-five.

  
"What's through there? What do they need?" Amy asks.

  
"They need to breathe," River smiles. Of course.

  
The Doctor grabs Peyton's forearm and they step back together as the wall starts to slide up, revealing a lush green forest.

  
"But that's," Amy says in disbelief. "That's a..."

  
"It's an oxygen factory," River says plainly.

  
"It's a forest," Amy gawps.

  
"Same thing," Peyton looks at it in amazement.

  
"And if we're lucky, an escape route," the Doctor nods.

  
"Eight!" Amy laughs.

  
"What did you say?" River steps forward concerned.

  
"Nothing."

  
"Is there another exit? Scan the architecture. We don't have time to get lost in there," the Doctor turns to the three girls in the room.

  
"On it, stay where you are until I've checked the rad levels," Octavian instructs.

  
"But trees, on a spaceship?" Amy stares at it.

  
"Oh, more than trees, way better than trees. You're gonna love this," the Doctor grins, rushing out into the forest. "Tree borgs," he laughs. "Trees, plus technology. Branches become cables, become sensors on the hull. A forest, sucking in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains, there's a whole mini-climate. This vault is an eco-pod running right through the heart of this ship. A forest in a bottle on a spaceship in a maze, have I impressed you yet, Leadworth girls?"

  
"Seven," Amy replies.

  
"Seven?"

  
"Sorry, what?" He rushes back to her.

  
"You said seven," he frowns at her.

  
"No, I didn't."

  
"Yes you did," Peyton looks at her strangely.

  
"Doctor, there's an exit, far end of the ship into the primary flight deck," Octavian reports.

  
"Good, that's where we need to go," the Doctor replies, not taking his eyes off Amy.

  
"Plotting a safe path now."

  
"Quick as you like," the Doctor never look away from Amy.

  
"Doctor?" It's the Angels, voices crackled and muffled over the radio. "Excuse me, Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here sir."

  
"Ah, there you are Angel bob," he sits himself down in the captain's chair, one leg folded over the other, bringing the communicator to his lips. "How's life? Sorry, bad subject."

  
"The Angel's are wondering what you hope to achieve."

  
"Achieve? We're not achieving anything. We're just hanging. It's nice here. Consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?"

  
"The Angels are feasting sir. Soon we'll be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world, and all the stars and worlds beyond."

  
"We've got comfy chairs, did I mention?"

  
"We have no need of comfy chairs." The Doctor moves the radio away from his mouth with a pleased smile.

  
"I made him say comfy chairs." Peyton rolls her eyes. Amy laughs.

  
"Six."

  
"Okay Bob, enough chat. Here's what I want to know, what have you done to Amy?" He leaps up from the chair.

  
"There's something in her eye."

  
"What's in her eye?"

  
"We are."

  
"What's he talking about?" Amy walks up to the Doctor. "Doctor, I'm five. I mean, five. Fine, I'm fine."

  
Peyton watches her slowly start to doubt herself.

  
"You're counting," Peyton observes.

  
"Counting?" She asks, panic rising in her voice.

  
"You're counting down from ten, have been for a couple of minutes," the Doctor raises an eyebrow.

  
"Why?" She asks.

  
"I don't know," he says, their foreheads almost touching.

  
"Well, counting down to what?" She whispers.

  
"I don't know," he repeats.

  
"We shall take her," Angel Bob answers. "We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all of time and space."

  
The Doctor sits back down on the white chair. "Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again. There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much."

  
"With respect sir, there's more power on this ship than you yet understand."

  
All of a sudden all Peyton can hear is horrible screeching, like something dying.

  
"Dear God, what is it?" River cringes.

  
"They're back!" Octavian says horrified.

  
"It's hard to put it in your terms Doctor Song, but as best as I understand it, the Angels are laughing," Angel Bob says through the radio.

  
"Laughing?" The Doctor replies in a low voice.

  
"Because you haven't noticed yet sir. The Doctor in the Tardis hasn't noticed."

  
"Doctor," Octavian warns.

  
"No wait!" The Doctor jumps up. "There's something I've," he turns around slowly. "Missed."

  
Peyton whips her head around and spots a familiar crack, this time shining with light. The Doctor runs up to it and Amy follows behind him.

  
"That's that's like the crack from my bedroom wall when I was a little girl," Amy says confused. Yes, that's why it's familiar. For the first few months that Peyton knew her, there was a great big crack in her wall till the Doctor came and he fixed it. But how can it be here?

  
"Yes!" The Doctor says in awe. The whole room shakes and Peyton grips onto the console to keep her footing.

  
"Okay, enough, we're moving out!" The bishop orders.

  
"Agreed, Doctor?" River yells.

  
"Yeah. Fine!" He replies, not fine, standing up on a trolley to get a closer look at the crack.

  
"What are you doing?" She questions him.

  
"Right with you," he reaches his sonic up to the crack.

  
"We're not leaving without you," River argues.

  
"Oh, yes, you are. Bishop?"

  
"Miss Pond, Barrett, Doctor Song, now!" Octavian calls.

  
"Doctor, come on!" Peyton yells as River grabs her arm and pulls her toward the forest.

  
• • •

  
Peyton follows the clerics, looking behind her shoulder every so often to check if the Doctor is coming yet.

  
"Amy?" River Song says softly. Peyton looks at her red-haired friend. She sways slightly, her breathing erratic.

  
Peyton grabs her shoulders gently. "Amy, what's wrong?"

  
"Four." She sits down on a rock and grabs her head. Peyton crouches beside her.

  
"Amy? Come on." Peyton rubs her arm encouragingly. She simply lays down on the rock, still holding her head.

  
"Med-scanner, now!" River sits on the rock beside her, a cleric hands her a small device.

  
"Doctor Song, we can't stay here. We've got to keep moving," Octavian warns.

  
"We wait for the Doctor," she insists as she wraps the device around Amy's forearm as Peyton strokes her hair, trying to soothe her.

  
"Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralise the Angels. Until that is achieved-"

  
"-Father Octavian, when the Doctor's in the room, your one and only mission is to keep him alive long enough to get everyone else home. And trust me, it's not easy." River interrupts him. "Now, If he's dead back there, I'll never forgive myself, and if he's alive, I'll never forgive him. And Doctor, you're standing behind me, aren't you?"

  
Peyton snickers as the Doctor smirks, leaning against a tree behind her, apparently lost his jacket.

  
"Oh yeah," he winks.

  
"I hate you!"

  
"You don't. Bishop, the Angels are in the forest."

  
"We need visual contact on every line of approach," Father Octavian addresses his clerics while the Doctor runs over to Doctor Song and his companions.

  
"How did you get past them?" River whispers.

  
"I found a crack in the wall, told them it was the end of the Universe."

  
"What was it?" Amy whimpers.

  
"The end of the Universe. Let's have a look then," he grabs the med-scanner.

  
"So what's wrong with me?"

  
"Nothing, you're fine," River comforts her.

  
"Everything, you're dying."

  
"Doctor!" Peyton punches him in the arm.

  
"Yes, of course, if we lie to her she'll get better. Right, Amy. Amy, Amy. What's the matter with Amelia? Something's in her eye, What does that mean? Does it mean anything?"

  
"Doctor?" She croaks.

  
"Busy."

  
"Scared!"

  
"Of course you're scared, you're dying, shut up!" Peyton glares at him for that.

  
"Okay, let him think," River nods.

  
"What happened? She stared at the Angel, she looked into the eyes of an Angel for too long-"

  
"Sir! Angel incoming!" A cleric shouts.

  
"And here!" Another one adds.

  
"Keep visual contact. Do not let it move," Octavian instructs.

  
The Doctor walks back and forth. "Come on, come on, come on, wakey, wakey! She watched an Angel climb out of the screen, she stared at the Angel, and, and,"

  
"The image of an Angel is an Angel," Amy realises.

  
"A living mental image in a living human mind. We stare at them to stop them getting closer, we don't even blink, and that's exactly what they want. 'Cause as long as our eyes are open, they can climb inside. There's an Angel in her mind!"

  
"Three. Doctor, it's coming, I can feel it. I'm gonna die."

  
"Please just shut up, I'm thinking. Now counting, what's that about?" He grabs the radio. "Bob, why are they making her count?"

  
"To make her afraid, sir."

  
"Okay, but why? What for?"

  
"For fun, sir."

  
The Doctor throws the radio at the ground in rage.

  
"Doctor what's happening to me? Explain."

  
"Inside your head, in the vision centres of your brain, there's an Angel. It's like there's a screen. A virtual screen inside your mind and the Angel is climbing out of it, and it's coming, to shut you off."

  
"Then what do I do?"

  
"If it was a real screen what would we do? We'd pull the plug. Cut the power. But we can't just knock her out, the Angel would just take over!"

  
"Then what? Quickly!"

  
"We've got to shit down the vision centres of her brain, we've got to pull the plug, starve the Angel."

  
"Doctor, she's got seconds," River warns.

  
"How would you starve your lungs?" He asks.

  
"I'd stop breathing," Peyton stares up at him.

  
"Amy, close your eyes!" The Doctor instructs.

  
"No, no, I don't want to," she whimpers.

  
"Good, 'cause that's not you. That's the Angel inside you. It's afraid! Do it! Close your eyes!" He kneels in front of her.

  
She closes her eyes and Peyton can immediately feel her breathing calm down as she hears the beeping of River's device regulate.

  
"She's normalising," River gasps.

  
"You did it!" Peyton smiles at the Doctor. "You did it!"

  
"Sir, two more incoming!"

  
"Three more over here."

  
"She's still weak, dangerous to move her," River sighs as she helps Amy sit up. Peyton gets to her feet beside the Doctor.

  
"So can I open my eyes now?" Amy asks.

  
"Amy, listen to me," the Doctor crouches to her level. "If you open your eyes for more than a second, you will die. The Angel is still inside, we haven't stopped it, we've just sort of, paused it. You've used up your countdown. You cannot open your eyes."

  
River wraps her arm around Amy's shoulder and rubs her biceps to comfort her.

  
"Doctor, we're too exposed here, we have to move on," the Bishop says impatiently.

  
"We're too exposed everywhere and Amy can't move," the Doctor glares at him. "And anyway, that's not the plan."

  
"There's a plan?" River says sceptically.

  
"I don't know yet, I haven't finished talking. Right! Father, you and your clerics, you're gonna stay here, look after Amy. If anything happens to her, I'll hold every single one of you personally responsible, twice. River, Peyton and me, we're going to go and find the Primary flight deck, which is," he licks his finger and hold it up as if checking for wind direction. "Quarter of a mile straight ahead, and from there we're going to stabilise the wreckage, stop the Angels and cure Amy."

  
"How?" Peyton frowns.

  
"I'll do a thing."

  
"What thing?" River questions.

  
"I don't know, it's a thing in progress, respect the thing. Moving out!" He claps and begins to walk, not wasting any time.

  
"Doctor, I'm coming with you," Octavian calls. "My clerics will look after Miss Pond. These are my best men. They'd lay down their lives in her protection."

  
"I don't need you."

  
"I don't care. Where Doctor Song goes, I go."

  
"What?" He objects. Glancing at River. "You two engaged or something?"

  
"Yes, in a manner of speaking," he glares at the Time Lord. "Marco, you're in charge till I get back."

  
"Come on, Peyton," River calls, Peyton walks over to her.

  
"Doctor, can I please come with you?" Amy pleads.

  
"You'd slow us down, Miss Pond," Octavian shakes his head.

  
"We can't just leave her," Peyton complains as they head into the forest.

  
"Like I said, my best men are protecting her," Octavian reassures her.

  
"Wait, where's the Doctor?" Peyton looks around.

  
"Probably still with Amy," River walks beside you. "Give him a minute."

  
"So, I'm guessing I don't die here if you know about me being half-human?" Peyton changes the subject.

  
"Time can be rewritten," she replies.

  
"Yeah but, if it does, I'm sure you can tell me what I'm up to?"

  
She looks at the girl, unimpressed by her insistence. "Spoilers."

  
"Right, spoilers," Peyton says grumpily. "So how do you know the Doctor?"

  
"Spoilers."

  
"Are you just going to say that to everything I ask?"

  
"Spoilers."

  
• • •

  
"What's that?" Peyton asks the Doctor as he scans a device with his screwdriver.

  
"Uh, readings from a crack in the wall."

  
"How can a crack in a wall be the end of the Universe?" River asks.

  
"I don't know, but here's what I think. One day, there's going to be a very big bang. So big, every moment in history, past and future, will crack."

  
"Is that possible?" Peyton frowns, almost tripping over a branch. "How?"

  
"How can someone be engaged 'in a manner of speaking'?" He questions River.

  
"Well," she stops, turning to look at him. "Sucker for a man in uniform." The glare Octavian gives her tells Peyton immediately that she's lying.

  
"Doctor Song is in my personal custody," he explains. "I released her from the Stormcage Containment Facility four days ago, and I am legally responsible for her until she's accomplished her mission and earned her pardon. Just so we understand each other."

  
"You were in Stormcage?" The Doctor leans over to her.

  
"What's Stormcage?" Peyton asks.

  
"Big space prison." The Doctor looks River up and down but his device starts beeping.

  
"What? What's that?" River leans over to get a look.

  
"The date, the date of the explosion, where the crack begins."

  
"And for those of us who can't read the base code of the Universe?" River looks up at him.

  
"Amy's time," he whispers. 26/06/10. The date of Amy and Rory's wedding. Peyton could recognise that anywhere, it's only been all anyone can talk about for the past six months, Leadworth is a small town.

  
"Doctor, that's tomorrow, or, what would have been tomorrow the night you came back," Peyton looks at him confused.

  
• • •

  
They reach what must be the flight deck but there are no clamps on this side to release it.

  
"It doesn't open from here," Octavian shakes his head. "But it's the Primary flight deck. This has got to be a service hatch or something," he crouches down to a little round door, just big enough for them to crawl through.

  
"Hurry up and open it. Time running out," River says, pointing her gun at the trees.

  
"What? What did you say? 'Time's running out'? Is that what you said?"

  
"Yeah, I just meant-"

  
"I know what you meant, hush. But what if it could."

  
"What if what could?" Peyton asks.

  
"Time, What if time could run out?" He puts his device and sonic down.

  
"Got it," Octavian announces, pushing the door open.

  
"Cracks in time, time running out. It couldn't be. But how is a duck pond a duck pond if there aren't any ducks? And she didn't recognise the Daleks!"

  
"Doctor," Peyton interjects, she remembers the Daleks.

  
"Okay, Time can shift, Time can change, Time can be rewritten. Ah! Oh!"

  
"Doctor!" Peyton tries again.

  
"It's been happening all around me, and I haven't even noticed."

  
"Doctor we have to move!" Octavian shouts.

  
"The Cyberking! A giant Cyberman walks all over Victorian London, and no one even remembers."

  
"We have to move, the Angels will be here any minute," Octavian grabs his shoulder.

  
"Never mind the Angels, there's worse here than Angels!" He laughs.

  
"Argh." In front of Peyton's eyes an Angel appears, or rather, appears while she was blinking.

  
"I beg to differ, sir," Octavian somehow manages, the Angel's arm tight around his throat.

  
"Let him go," the Doctor scans the Angel with his screwdriver.

  
"Well, it can't let me go, sir. Not while you're looking at it."

  
"We can't stop looking at it. It'll kill you," Peyton reminds him.

  
"It's going to kill me anyway. Think it through. There's no way out of this. You have to leave me!"

  
"Can't you wriggle out?" The Doctor tries.

  
"No, it's too tight. You have to leave me. There's nothing you can do."

  
"You're dead if we leave you," the Doctor stares at him sadly.

  
"Yes, yes, I'm dead. And before you go-"

  
"We're not going!" Peyton repeats.

  
"Listen to me, it's important! You can't trust her."

  
"Trust who?" The Doctor puts his sonic away.

  
"River Song. You think you know her, but you don't. You don't understand who or what she is," Octavian warns.

  
"Then tell me."

  
"I've told you more than I should, now, please. You have to go, it's your duty to your friends," his voice is becoming very breathy now.

  
"Just tell me why she was in Stormcage," he requests. Octavian looks at you, then back inside.

  
"Peyton, get inside with River," the Doctor instructs. She doesn't bother arguing. If even the Doctor isn't supposed to know, she doubts anyone would be happy if she did.

  
Peyton crawls through the door into the flight deck, it's pretty similar to the secondary one and River stands by the console trying to get something to work.

  
"There's a teleport, if I can get it to work," River says as the Doctor enters the room. "We can beam the others here. Where's Octavian?"

  
"Octavian's dead, so is that teleport," he marches up to the console. "You're wasting your time. I'm going to need your communicator." River doesn't reply, just lets him take the communicator from her belt.

  
Peyton leans against the wall, feeling a little useless with nothing to do, not paying attention to anything.

  
"Amy? Amy? Is that you?" The Doctor speaks into the radio, snapping Peyton out of her head.

  
"Doctor?"

  
"Where are you? Are the clerics with you?"

  
"They've gone," she sobs. Peyton walks over to the Doctor, looking at the communicator. "There was a light, and they walked into the light. Doctor, they didn't even remember each other."

  
"No, they wouldn't," the Doctor sighs.

  
"What is that light?" River asks.

  
"Time running out. Amy, I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I should never have left you there."

  
"Well, what do I do now?"

  
"You come to us. The Primary flight deck, the other end of the forest."

  
"I can't see, I can't open my eyes!"

  
"Turn on the spot," he holds his screwdriver to the communicator.

  
"Sorry what?"

  
"Just do it. Turn on the spot. When the communicator sounds like my screwdriver, that means you're facing the right way. Follow the sound. You have to start moving now. There's time energy spilling out of that crack, and you have to stay ahead of it."

  
"The Angels, they're everywhere."

  
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I really am but the Angels can only kill you." Well, what's that supposed to mean?

  
"What does the Time Energy do?"

  
"Just keep moving!" He yells into the communicator.

  
"Tell me!"

  
"If the time energy catches up with you, you'll never have been born. It will erase every moment of your existence. You will never have lived at all. Now, keep your eyes shut, and keep moving."

  
"It's never going to work," River admits once the Doctor has put the communicator down.

  
"What else have you got?" He yells. "River, tell me!"

  
Suddenly the room is filled with a whooshing and banging noise.

  
"What's that?" Peyton asks.

  
"The Angels running from the fire," the Doctor looks up at the roof. "They came here to feed on the time energy. Now it's going to feed on them." He turns back to pick up the communicator. "Amy, listen to me. I'm sending a bit of software to your communicator, it's a proximity detector. It'll beep if there's something in your way, you just manoeuvre until the beeping stops. Because Amy, this is important. The forest is full of Angels. You're going to have to walk like you can see."

  
"Well, what do you mean?"

  
"Look, just keep moving."

  
"That time energy, what's it going to do?" River asks.

  
"Uh, keep eating?" He frowns, rubbing his hands over his face.

  
"How do we stop it?" Peyton stands beside him.

  
"Feed it."

  
"Feed it what?" Peyton asks, what would a big crack in space eat?

  
"A big complicated space-time event. That should shut it up for a while."

  
"Like what for instance?" River asks.

  
"Like me, for instance!" He shouts, the tension clearly getting to him.

  
A strange noise comes from the communicator.

  
"What's that?" Amy asks worriedly.

  
"It's a warning. There are Angels around you now. Amy listen to me. This is going to be hard but I know you can do it. The Angels are scared and running and right now they're not that interested in you. They'll assume you can see them and their instincts will kick in. All you've got to do is walk like you can see. Just don't open your eyes. Walk like you can see."

  
No one says anything, just listening to the faint beeping from Amy's communicator.

  
"You're not moving, you have to do this," the Doctor says softly into the radio. "Now. You have to do this!" He bangs his hand on the console.

  
"Doctor! I can't find the communicator!" Amy yells. "I dropped it! I can't find it Doctor! Doctor!"

  
"Amy!" He yells into the communicator.

  
"Doctor!"

  
"I got it!" River yells. And within a split second, Amy appears on the teleport pad and falls into River's arms.

  
"Don't open your eyes. You're on the flight deck. The Doctor and Peyton are here too, I teleported you." She turns to the Doctor. "See? Told you I could get it working".

  
"River Song, I could bloody kiss you," he smiles.

  
"Ah, well. Maybe when you're older."

  
An alarm starts blaring and at this point, Peyton is more, 'oh, what now?' than panicking.

  
"What's that?" Peyton walks over to Amy and River.

  
"The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power. Which means," he runs to the front. "The shield's going to release."

  
And as if on queue, the wall begins to slide up and Peyton sees the army of Angels. The stone creatures, paused in their time-lock, frozen in place before them.

  
"Angel Bob, I presume," the Doctor addresses the closest one, the most perfect.

  
"The Time field is coming. It will destroy our reality." It's Bob's voice coming from the Angel, but its lips aren't moving.

  
"Yeah, look at you all, running away. What can I do for you?"

  
"There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close and they will be saved."

  
"Yeah, yeah, could do. Could do that, but why?"

  
"Your friends would also be saved."

  
"Well, there is that."

  
"I've travelled in time," River runs to his side, leaving Peyton to support the still uneasy Amy. "I'm a complicated space-time event too, throw me in."

  
"Oh, be serious. Compared to me, these Angels are more complicated than you and it would take every single one of them to amount to me, so get a grip."

  
"Doctor, I can't let you do this," she grabs his arm.

  
"No, seriously. Get a grip."

  
"You're not going to die here!"

  
"No, I mean it. River, Amy, Peyton, get a grip." Peyton frowns at first. She looks between the Doctor, the Angels, and the light behind them. 

  
"The gravity orientates to the floor"

  
This whole ship is tilted on its side, and if Peyton remembers correctly, tilted toward the forest. 

  
"Oh, you genius," Peyton laughs and spots the bars on the console.

  
"Sir, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now."

  
"Thing is, Bob. The Angels are draining all the power from this ship, every last bit of it. And you know what? I think they've forgotten where they're standing. I think, they've forgotten the gravity of the situation. Or, to put it another way Angels, night night."

  
An alarm blares and the screens on the consoles blare 'GRAVITY FAILING'. Peyton grips the bar and the Doctor grabs the one next to her as the gravity fails and their feet are lifted off the ground and Peyton hangs on with all she's got.

  
• • •

  
Peyton leans against a rock, letting Amy rest her head on her shoulder.

  
"Ah, bruised everywhere," Amy groans.

  
"Me too," the Doctor lies, not sure how to respond.

  
"You didn't have to climb out with your eyes shut."

  
"Neither did you," Peyton nudges her. "We kept saying. The Angels all fell into the time field, the Angel in your memory never existed." She's just repeating what the Doctor said before but she feels smart.

  
"It can't harm you now," he adds.

  
"Then why do I remember it all?" She looks off into the distance. "Those guys on the ship didn't remember each other."

  
"You're a time traveller now Amy," he smiles fondly at her. "Changes the way you see the Universe, that's why Peyton remembers the Daleks. They were unwritten from everyone else's time stream, but because a little girl, an incredibly clever little girl, stole a Vortex Manipulator, she remembers what others can't."

  
"And the crack?" Amy looks up at him. "Is that gone too?"

  
He pauses, "Yeah. For now. But that explosion that caused it is still happening, somewhere out there, somewhere in time." He walks away toward River who is standing by a new cleric in a pair of handcuffs. Peyton and Amy sit in silence.

  
"So where are you from then?" Amy asks.

  
"I was born 2008, London," Peyton says, watching the Doctor and River talk but unable to hear them.

  
"So you're like two years old then?" Peyton looks at her strangely.

  
"I still lived all those years with you back in Leadworth," she explains. "But it was 2014 when I left."

  
"Ooh, the future, so what happens?" She asks.

  
"I was six, I don't know," Peyton laughs. They fall back into a comfortable silence.

  
"I'm going to tell him," Amy finally says, head still leaning on Peyton's shoulder.

  
"Tell him what?"

  
"About tomorrow, about Rory."

  
Peyton doesn't say anything about the date she saw on the computer, the date of the explosion. The Doctor in the distance says something that makes River laugh and then a couple of seconds later she disappears, beamed back up to Big-Space-Prison, Peyton assumes.

  
She helps Amy to her feet and they both walk over to the Doctor, standing alone by his Tardis.

  
"What are you thinking?" Amy asks.

  
"Time can be rewritten," he smiles.

  
• • •

  
"I want to go home," Amy says, sitting in the seat beside the console.

  
"Okay," the Doctor manages, the drama queen.

  
"No not like that," she laughs at him. "I just want to show you something. You're running from River, I'm running too."

  
"Can I be dropped off too," Peyton adds. "A few things I want to grab from home."

  
• • •

  
Her parents are still out when she walks through the door. Of course, it's the same night she left. She doesn't need to grab much, just a few of her favourite items of clothes and her phone, not that it will work in space but it will be nice to take photos of their travels and such.

  
Peyton walks back onto the driveway with a backpack filled with stuff waiting for the Tardis, breathing in the cool air. They only take about five minutes before the blue box shows up and she hops inside to see a rather frazzled Doctor and grumpy looking Amy.

  
"Peyton, chuck that stuff down quickly, we need to pick up someone's fiancé."


	8. The Day they Met the Fish Vampires from Space

"You did what!" Peyton exclaims. The Doctor has just left the Tardis to do whatever 'getting your fiancé' entails.

  
"It was an accident!" Amy yells back.

  
"Amy, it's your wedding day tomorrow," she shakes her head. "And he's an alien, isn't that just a little bit weird?"

  
"You're half alien," she challenges.

  
"This isn't about me," Peyton sighs, putting her head in her hands. "Amy, why did you do it? What about Rory?"

  
"We'd just almost died, it was the heat of the moment." Neither of them says anything else until the Doctor returns a few moments later with a very confused Rory.

  
"Wait here," he instructs him. "I need to attend to a thing, then we'll get to business."

  
• • •

  
"Oh! Life out there, it dazzles," the Doctor shouts up from beneath the console doing God knows what. "I mean, it blinds you to the things that are important. I've seen it devour relationships and plans-"

  
A shower of sparks explodes from the console causing the three of Earthlings to jump away.

  
"It's meant to do that," the Doctor lies, but he continues with his lecture. "Because for one person to have seen all that, to taste the glory and go back, it will tear you apart. So, I'm sending you two somewhere, together."

  
"What, like a date?" Amy asks.

  
"Anywhere you want, any time you want. One condition, it has to be amazing." He finishes what he was doing as races up the stairs to the console. "The Moulin Rouge In 1890! The first Olympic Games! Think of it as a wedding present, because, frankly, it's either this or tokens."

  
The Doctor continues prancing about and makes his way up to the landing up the stairs.

  
"It's a lot to take in isn't it," the Doctor addresses Rory. "Tiny box, huge room inside. What's that about? Let me explain-"

  
"It's another dimension," Rory says flatly, still cross with the Doctor.

  
"It's basically another dimen- what?"

  
"After what happened with Prisoner Zero, I've been reading up on all the latest scientific theories. FTL travel, parallel universes."

  
Peyton chuckles at that. He was always a bit of a nerd. 

  
"I like the bit when someone says 'it's bigger on the inside'," the Doctor sulks, walking down the steps to meet Rory. "I always look forward to that."

  
"So, this date," Amy interrupts. "I'm kind of done with running down corridors. What do you think, Rory?"

  
"How about somewhere romantic?" The Doctor starts the Tardis and Peyton knowingly gets a grip on the side of the console as they leave Earth.

  
• • •

  
"Venice!" The Doctor opens his arms as Peyton, Rory, and Amy file out of the Tardis. "Venezia! La Serenissima! Impossible city, preposterous city! Founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun. It was just a collection of little wooden huts in the middle of the marsh, but became one of the most powerful cities in the world. Constantly being invaded, constantly flooding, constantly, just beautiful. Ah, you got to love Venice."

  
Peyton wanders through the markets alongside the Doctor, still trying to get her head around the fact that she's actually in Venice in the sixteenth century. All the smells, the sounds, it's all so beautiful.

  
"So many people did," the Doctor continues. "Byron, Napoleon, Casanova. Ooh, that reminds me," he looks at his watch. "1580, that's alright, Casanova doesn't get born for a hundred and fourty five years. Don't want to run into him, I owe him a chicken."

  
"You owe Casanova a chicken?" Peyton folds her arms.

  
"Long story, we had a bet."

  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" A man stops them as they step toward the archway into the city. "Papers, if you please. Proof of residency, current bill of medical inspection." Peyton looks to the Doctor

  
"There you go fella," the Time Lord pulls out his psychic paper and shows it to the man. "All to your satisfaction, I think you'll find."

  
"I am so sorry, Your Holiness," the man apologises. Holiness? "I didn't realise."

  
"No worries," the Doctor nods. "You were just doing your job. Sorry, what exactly is your job?"

  
"Checking for aliens." Peyton's eyes widen, panicked. "Visitors from foreign lands, what might bring the plague with them."

  
"Oh that's nice," Amy glares at the Doctor. "See where you bring me? The plague!" She punches him in the arm.

  
"Don't worry, Viscountess," the man assures her. Amy however, is quite happy with her title. "No, we're under quarantine here. No one comes in, no one goes out. And all because of the grace and wisdom of our patron Signora Rosanna Calvierri." He points to the crest on his book.

  
"How interesting," the Doctor mutters. "I heard the plague died out years ago."

  
"Not out there," he points to the horizon across the water. No, Signora Calvierri has seen it with her own eyes. Streets are piled high with bodies she said."

  
"Did she now?" The Doctor says with an all too familiar intrigued gleam in his eye. Rory reaches to take the psychic paper off the inspector. The Doctor heads into the city and Amy follows closely behind her.

  
"Um, according to this, I am your Eunuch!" Rory calls after Amy.

  
"Oh yeah, Peyton can explain."

  
"And I'm his chief servant!" She says appalled as she peers at the paper in Rory's hands. "I'm going to kill him"

  
"Wait what is this?" Rory asks as he and Peyton jog to catch up to the Doctor and Amy.

  
"Magic paper," Peyton lies. "Tells people what we want in order to go places and get things done."

  
"Is it really magic?"

  
"No, of course it's not magic," she rolls her eyes.

  
• • •

  
As they walk through the city, Peyton notices a lot of people making a fuss over a group of young women leaving a fancy cathedral-looking building. She and the Doctor run to the railing guarding the pathway against the canal and watch carefully. Amy and Rory join them promptly, Rory still not over the whole psychic paper incident.

  
A man runs out from behind a building toward the girls, Peyton watches confused as he lifts up the veils they are wearing, causing quite a commotion. She and the Doctor share a concerned look. He is pushed to the ground by one of them and a man in very rich clothing stands over him

  
"What was that about?" Peyton turns to the Doctor but he has already disappeared into the crowd.

  
"Oh, I hate it when he does that!" Amy groans.

  
"And I'm left to third wheel," Peyton sighs.

  
• • •

  
"And what have you been doing?" Rory asks, to Amy probably as the three walk through the alleyways of Venice.

  
"Well, running."

  
"Too much running," Peyton adds.

  
"And fighting. I've been scared. "More scared than I thought was poss-"

  
"Did you miss me?' Rory asks. Oh boy, here we go.

  
"I, I knew I'd be coming back," she punches him in the arm, her equivalent of normal human displays of affection. The two don't look each other in the eye.

  
"He was right. It blots out everything else," he starts to storm off.

  
"Rory, this is our date," Amy calls after him.

  
"And I'm here too," Peyton whispers under her breath.

  
"Let's not do this, not now." She grabs onto his arm, batting her eyelashes innocently.

  
"Um, we are in Venice and it is 1580," he laces his fingers through hers and Amy giggles like a teenager, Peyton rolls her eyes.

  
"I know," she smiles, the two of them walking off, Peyton following from a distance, her hands shoved into her jacket pockets grumpily. "Peyton, can you come take a photo of us?"

  
She groans melodramatically and takes Rory's phone from his outstretched hand. As she presses the shutter they hear a piercing scream.

  
"What was that?" Rory panics, the two girls instinctively run toward the sound. They run back the way they came until they come across who can only be the richly dressed man from before, leaning over a woman's body. He hears them and looks up, blood dripping from his mouth and his teeth, like fangs. Peyton looks down to the woman who has two pinpricks in her neck and a small trail of blood emerging from them. The man gets to his feet and hisses, hiding his face in his cape and walking away. Rory's nurse instincts kick in and he gets on his knees to inspect the woman lying unconscious on the floor.

  
"She's okay," he announces. Peyton and Amy share a look before running after the mysterious figure. "Amy! Peyton! Come back!"

  
The two sprint through the winding streets, dodging people and market stalls, struggling to keep the man in their sights.

  
Peyton stops suddenly, otherwise, she would have fallen into the canal. Peyton and Amy both look around to see where he could have gone, even if he did jump in, surely they would be able to see his expensive clothing.

  
"We have to find the Doctor," Peyton looks at her.

  
• • •

  
"Doctor!" Peyton spots him and they run toward each other.

  
"We just saw a Vampire!"

  
"I just met some Vampires!"

  
Peyton, Amy, and the Doctor clasp each other's arms, making a triangle, laughing excitedly.

  
"Vampires," Amy smiles.

  
"In Venice," the Doctor adds.

  
"We think we just saw a Vampire," Rory catches up finally.

  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah I know, Amy and Peyton were just telling me."

  
"Yeah, the Doctor actually went to their house," Amy wraps her arm around his shoulder.

  
"Oh, right, well."

  
"Okay, so, first, we need to get back in there somehow," the Doctor stares at the building.

  
"What? Back in where?"

  
"How do we do that?" Peyton asks.

  
"Come and meet my new friend," he smiles as he runs off.

  
• • •

  
"As you saw, there's no clear way in," Guido, the Doctor's new friend, lays a map on of Venice on the table. "The house of Calvierri is like a fortress. But there's a tunnel underneath it, with a ladder and shaft that leads up into the house. I tried to get in once myself, but I hit a trapdoor."

  
"You need someone on the inside," Amy proposes.

  
"No," the Doctor replies.

  
"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

  
"That we pretend you're an applicant for the school, to get you inside and tonight you come down and open the trapdoor to let us in."

  
"Oh, so you do know what I was going to say."

  
"Are you insane?" Rory asks.

  
"I could do it," Peyton shrugs.

  
"Nope," the Doctor shakes his heap, popping the 'p'. "I might need you."

  
"Oh, so you need Peyton but I can't do it because I'm some precious flower that need protecting?" Amy says angrily.

  
"No," the Doctor looks up at Amy. "She's cleverer than you, my life might depend on that in the future. But if you go in, and something bad happens, I'll get an angry Rory after me."

  
"I'd hope you'd get an angry Rory either way," Peyton mutters, glancing toward Rory who chuckles at her.

  
"Do we have another option?" Amy sighs.

  
"He said no, Amy." Rory folds his arms. "Listen to him."

  
"There is another option," Guido interrupts. He points to Rory, or rather what's behind him. "I work at the Arsenale, we build the warships for the navy."

  
The Doctor sniffs the barrels Rory has made a seat out of. "Gunpowder," he deduces. "Most people just nick stationary from where they work. Look, I have a thing about guns and huge quantities of explosive." Rory quietly gets up and moves away from the bomb behind him.

  
"What do you suggest then?" Guido slams his hands on the table. "We wait until they turn her into an animal?" He turns to stoke the fire angrily.

  
"I'll be there three, four hours tops," Amy insists. Rory looks to the Doctor to enforce that she can't go but he doesn't say anything for a while before snapping.

  
"No, no, no, no, no, no. It can't keep happening like this. This is how they go," he sits down, putting his head in his hands. They? "But I have to know, we go together, say you're my daughter," he concedes.

  
"What? Don't listen to him!" Rory retaliates.

  
"Your daughter? You barely look any older than us," Peyton raises an eyebrow at the Time Lord.

  
"Brother then," the Doctor twiddles his thumbs.

  
"Too weird. Fiancé," Amy suggests.

  
"Uh, I'm not having him run around telling people he's your fiancé!" Rory tries to talk some sense into her.

  
"No, no you're right," she shakes her head. Amy Pond backing down? There's a first for everything.

  
"Thank you," he rolls his eyes.

  
"I mean, they've already seen the Doctor. You should do it."

  
"Me?" Rory chokes.

  
"Yeah! You can be my brother." She ruffles his hair.

  
"Why is him being your brother weird, but with me it's okay?" Rory protests.

  
"Actually I thought you were her fiancé," Guido points to the Doctor.

  
"Yeah, that's not helping," Peyton glares at him, passing her hand in front of her throat.

  
"This whole thing is mental!" Rory yells. "They're Vampires for God's sake!"

  
"We hope," the Doctor shrugs. There's silence for a moment.

  
"So if they're not Vampires?"

  
"Makes you wonder what could be so bad it doesn't mind us thinking it's a Vampire." The Doctor bares his teeth as if imitating Stoker's villain.

  
• • •

  
A bell tolls nearby, perhaps from the very cathedral they are attempting to break into. Guido rows the little boat down the channel wearing Rory's clothes which Peyton is quite impressed fit as Rory has always been quite skinny and Guido is a rather muscular man.

  
Peyton sits in the middle of the boat, facing backward at the Doctor and Rory, they both look quite tense.

  
"She'll be fine," Peyton assures Rory, reaching over and patting his knee.

  
"You can promise me that, can you?" Rory snaps, Peyton pulls her hand away quickly. He refuses to meet her eyes, instead, being incredibly interested in the water.

  
• • •

  
The Doctor leads the group through the metal gates with his torch in hand, Guido offers to stand guard. "Right, I'll go first, if anything happens to me, you two- "

  
"What happened? Between you and Amy?" Rory whispers. "You said she kissed you."

  
"Now? You want to do this now?" The Doctor replies harshly.

  
"I have a right to know, I'm getting married in four hundred and thirty years."

  
"She was frightened, Peyton was frightened, I was frightened. But we survived, you know, and the relief of it, and so she kissed me."

  
"And you kissed her back?"

  
"No. I kissed her mouth." Peyton kicks him in the shin for that.

  
"Funny," Rory rolls his eyes.

  
"Rory, Rory," Peyton grabs his sleeve to stop him, the Doctor stops as well. "She kissed him because he was there. It would have been you, it should have been you." She signals for the Doctor to keep moving.

  
"Yeah. It should have been me," Rory sulks.

  
"Exactly, that's why I brought you here," the wind blows out the Doctor's torch. "Can we go and see the Vampires now please?"

  
• • •

  
The Doctor pushes open the trapdoor, using Rory as a footstool. "Push!"

  
"I'm pushing!" He jumps out and Peyton looks at Rory expectantly. He groans and locks his fingers together and bends down for her to put her foot in. He pushes her up and she tries not to step on his head too much as she takes the Doctor's hand and he helps pull her up.

  
As soon as she's out, she only has a second to breathe before helping Rory out too.

  
"Amy?" Peyton whispers as Rory gets to his feet again. She was definitely here to open the door but maybe she ran into trouble after that. "Amy?" The Doctor joins in too, scanning the room for any sign of the girl.

  
"I can't see a thing," he gives in. It is quite foggy, and no torches are lit.

  
"Just as well I brought this then," Rory whispers, pulling out a small key chain light. The Doctor pulls something out of his jacket.

  
"Ultraviolet. Portable sunlight," he brags. How did that even fit?

  
"Yours is bigger than mine."

  
"Let's not go there."

  
• • •

  
"If we cancel now, we'll lose the deposit on the village hall, the salsa band," Rory complains.

  
"So you're not worried about, like, dying, just the deposit on the wedding venue?" Peyton rolls her eyes at him. Before he can make a witty comeback, however, the Doctor opens a trunk and the three of them fall silent.

  
"What happened to them?" Peyton asks, it comes out more like a whimper. The corpse is barely recognisable as a human, it looks burnt and twisted. She dreads to learn the fate of the poor soul.

  
"They've has all the moisture taken out of them," the Doctor inspects the body.

  
"That's what Vampires do, yeah, they drink your blood and replace it with their own," Rory absent-mindedly grabs Peyton's sleeve, as if trying to tether himself to reality.

  
"Yeah, except these people haven't just had their blood taken, but all the water in their entire bodies," the Doctor looks up in horror.

  
"Why did they die?" Peyton asks. "Why aren't they like the girls in the school?" The Doctor, in true Doctor fashion, takes a moment before responding.

  
"Maybe not everyone survives the process."

  
A lump rises in Peyton's throat and Rory throws his hands in the air, storming off.

  
"You know what's dangerous about you?" He points accusingly at the Doctor. "It's not that you make people take risks, it's that you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don't want to let you down. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around."

  
The Doctor looks hurt, Peyton is caught between agreeing with Rory and feeling sorry for the Doctor.

  
"Who are you?"

  
The chorus of voices makes Peyton jump. They look around, in all the arches there is a girl in a white dress. Fairly terrifying.

  
The three group to the middle of the room, the Doctor flailing around his UV light. They bare their fangs and the Doctor shoves the light in their faces to keep them at bay.

  
"We should run. Run!" The Doctor screams, making sure Peyton and Rory are already on the move before he catches up.

  
Down the winding corridors, they run, Peyton in the lead and the Doctor bringing up the rear keeping the Vampires at bay, every so often he'll shout at her to turn left or right, trying to shake the girls off their trail.

  
Peyton hears a crash and turns for a split second, Rory has run into a pedestal and knocked over a pot.

  
"Oh! Rory, come on!" Peyton yells at her friend lying amount the broken pottery on the stone floor.

  
They keep moving again, coming to an open area before skidding to a stop. The girls must have raised an alarm. In front of her stands, Signora Calvierri and who you suppose is Franchesco.

  
"Cab for Amy Pond?" The Doctor asks sarcastically, Peyton glares at him.

  
"This rescue plan, not exactly watertight, is it?" Calvierri smirks, as the Doctor swaps the light between his hands to ward off the Vampires.

  
"Rory! Peyton!" It's Amy.

  
"Amy!" They exclaim.

  
"Quickly, through here!" She grabs Rory's hand and Peyton grabs his sleeve as they run down an adjacent corridor, the Doctor following not too far behind.

  
• • •

  
Peyton heads down the circling stairwell, in front of the Doctor who brings up the back, sealing the door with his sonic.

  
"They're not Vampires," Amy says.

  
"What?" The Doctor frowns.

  
"I saw them, I saw her," she explains. "They're not Vampires, they're aliens."

  
"Classic!" The Doctor laughs. "That's good news."

  
"What is wrong with you people?" Rory yells.

  
They stop as they hear the door being broken down, Peyton feels the Doctor's hand on her back, pushing her gently.

  
"Come on, Peyton, they may not be Vampires but they're still probably going to kill us."

  
• • •

  
They stumble out into the dawn light, Peyton's eyes not coping with the sudden transition. They make a run toward Guido who is still wearing Rory's ridiculous shirt.

  
"Isabella!" The Doctor yells. Peyton turns and sees Isabella, Guido's daughter taken by the cult, cowering from the sunlight, unable to make it to her father. The girls grab her and drag her back. The Doctor runs up to the door to try pull her out but its no use. The door seals with the Doctor banging uselessly on it.

  
Suddenly, his body starts convulsing and collapses, tumbling down the steps unceremoniously. Rory rushes to his side on instinct and Peyton and Amy watch in fright.

  
"Is he dead?" Amy asks.

  
"No, he's breathing." The two let out a sigh of relief.

  
• • •

  
Peyton sits on Guido's table, her legs crossed and elbows resting on her knees, in turn propping her head up.

  
The Doctor scans Amy's impressive bite with his sonic now that she's changed back into her normal clothes. "You're fine," he announces. "Open wide." He pops a sweet in her mouth. "And get off the table, Peyton."

  
She slides off grudgingly into the seat next to Amy and watch the Doctor pace back and forth in frustration.

  
"Argh. I need to think. Come on, brain, think, think, think!" He takes a seat at the head of the table.

  
"If they're fish people it explains why they hate the sun," Amy says, still sucking on her sweet.

  
The Doctor places a hand over her mouth. "Stop talking, brain thinking, hush."

  
"It's the school thing I don't understand," Rory mentions.

  
"Stop talking, brain thinking hush." The Doctor brings a hand to his mouth as well.

  
"Why Earth? Why 1580?" Peyton asks.

  
"Ah, Ah, Ah!" The Doctor glares at her. He nods to Amy who brings a hand to her mouth.

  
"Well, I say we bring the fight to them!" Guido bangs his fist on the table.

  
"Shh!" Rory knows what to do. "Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in space and time and end up here. Then she closes off the city, and, one by one starts changing the people into creatures like her. To start a new gene pool. Got it. But then what? They come from the sea. They can't survive forever on land. So what's she going to do? Unless she's going to do something to the environment, to make the city habitable. She said, 'I will bend the heavens to save my race.' Bend the heavens." He removes his hands from Amy and Rory's mouths and places them on their heads, rocking them back and forth. "She's going to sink Venice."

  
"She's, she's going to sink Venice?" Guido pushes Rory's hand away, Peyton does the same to Amy.

  
"And repopulate it with the girls she's transformed," the Doctor says, looking down at the table.

  
"You can't repopulate somewhere with just women, you need, blokes," Rory points out.

  
"She's got blokes," Amy remembers.

  
"Where?" Peyton asks.

  
"In the canal! She said to me, 'there are 10,000 husbands waiting in the water'."

  
"Only the male offspring survived the journey here! She's got ten thousand children swimming around in the canals, waiting for mum to make some compatible girlfriends. Eugh. I mean, I've been around a bit. But, really, that's, that's, eugh."

  
Peyton jumps as a loud clattering noise comes from the upper level of the building.

  
"The people upstairs are very noisy," the Doctor comments.

  
"There aren't any people upstairs," Guido says.

  
"I knew you were going to say that," the Doctor points a finger at him. "Did anyone else know he was going to say that?"

  
"Is it the Vampires?" Peyton whispers.

  
"Like I said, they're not Vampires," he pulls out his giant fluorescent light. "Fish from space."

  
A widow smashes and Peyton sees the girls from the school approaching. She jumps out of her seat, ready to run for it.

  
"Aren't we on the second floor?" Rory says to no one in particular. Guido makes the sign of the cross.

  
They smash another window and the Doctor tosses the light to Peyton as she's closest to the intruders, she holds it out toward them and they cower away from her.

  
The Doctor stands beside her with a hand on her shoulder, he takes out his screwdriver and reveals their true appearance, however that's possible.

  
"What's happened to them?" Guido asks.

  
"There's nothing left of them. They've been fully converted. Blimey, fish from space have never been so, buxom."

  
Peyton elbows him in the ribs.

  
"Come on, move!" He decides, taking the light from her so she can make a break for the door. Peyton leads the group down to the ground floor and toward the door. "Go, go, go, guys keep moving, go, go, go!"

  
They dash through open the door and run out into the street and down an alleyway where they duck into a corner.

  
"Where's the Doctor and Guido?" Amy asks. Peyton doesn't have an answer but the sound of an explosion does. The three of them run back to Guido's house to find the Doctor staring at the house, smoke billowing out of the door and the windows, debris everywhere.

  
"Rosanna's initiating the final phase," the Doctor glances at the sky which is being filled with dark clouds.

  
"We need to stop her. Come on!" Amy says darkly.

  
"No, no, no. Get back to the Tardis," he shakes his head.

  
"You can't stop her on your own," Peyton tries to reason with him.

  
"We don't discuss this! I tell you to do something and you do it!" He yells. Amy storms off and Peyton follows with Rory behind, to make sure she isn't going to run into trouble.

  
• • •

  
Peyton, Amy, and Rory stare at the sky, people screaming and thunder roaring.

  
"Oh my God, what is going on?" Amy says.

  
"The sky, it kinda looks like it's boiling," Peyton points out. Amy takes this opportunity to run off again so Peyton and Rory chase after her.

  
After a series of alleyways, Amy stops and Peyton soon sees why. Franchesco stands cockily in the way, he has ditched his excessive outerwear and he is all wet. Fish people.

  
Rory picks up two candlesticks and holds them together in the sign of the cross. "Amy, Peyton, run!" 

  
Franchesco justs bats them out of his ways and advances on the girls.

  
"They're not Vampires!" Peyton yells at him as she's being backed into a corner.

  
"This way you freak!" He doesn't change his direction. "No! This, this, this way you big, stupid, great, SpongeBob!" Franchesco bears his fangs, Peyton's back hits the wall. She grabs Amy's hand. "The only things I've seen uglier than you is, your mum!"

  
Franchesco turns slowly, he steps toward Rory who puts his hands up in fright.

  
"Did you just say something about Mummy?"

  
Rory grabs a broom leaning on the staircase and flails it around in an attempt of being menacing. Peyton thinks about her new life as a fish person.

  
Franchesco pulls a sword from his sheath and waves it expertly, Rory no longer seems happy about his odds. The alien strikes, causing both Peyton and Amy to scream, but somehow, Rory uses the broom to deflect him, and again, and again.

  
"That's my man," Amy smiles. "Careful!"

  
Franchesco takes another hit which Rory somehow deflects. Peyton has to admit, she has never seen this side of Rory.

  
"Hit him!" Amy yells and her fiancé makes a jab at his opponent, unfortunately, he strikes with the wrong end.

  
"That's your man," Peyton reminds her sarcastically.

  
"Think of something!" She yells at Peyton.

  
"This way, bring him this way Rory!" She yells, grabbing Amy's hand again and dragging her away. You need higher ground, the staircase!

  
Peyton can't see but she can hear the two fighting below, she just needs to find something. Metal, glass, something reflective.

  
"What's your plan exactly?" Amy asks.

  
"Glass! I need glass, a mirror, something reflective," she scans her surroundings quickly. Amy, brilliant Amy understands immediately. The two men come closer

  
• • •

  
"Ow!" That man better not be bleeding out onto the cobblestones, Peyton spent way too much on her bridesmaid's dress.

  
Peyton arrives back at the top of the staircase to see Franchesco in his true form hovering over Rory. Amy steals the piece of mirror from her hand.

  
"Hey! Mummy's Boy!" She yells, getting the giant fish's attention. The light bounces off the glass and hits him, causing him to writhe around in pain and then disintegrate in a puff of smoke. Peyton's theory was right, they are more vulnerable in their true form.

  
Rory sits upright, still in shock.

  
"That was lucky," she smiles.

  
"Why did you make the sign of a cross you numpty?" Amy questions. 

  
"Oh, oh, right!" Rory gets up and marches toward the two. "I'm being reviewed now am I?" But Amy meets him halfway and, grabbing him by the collar, presses her lips to his. Peyton stands at the top of the stairs awkwardly.

  
After an eternity they pull away. "Now we go help the Doctor," Peyton says.

  
• • •

  
"Get out! I need to stabilise the storm!" The Doctor yells as Peyton runs into the throne room.

  
"We're not leaving you," Rory says defiantly.

  
"Right, So one minute it's all, 'you make people a danger to themselves', and the next it's, 'I'm not leaving you'. But if one of you gets squashed or blown up or eaten, who gets-"

  
The whole room shakes and they are knocked to the floor. And it's all over in a few seconds.

  
"What was that?" Peyton asks, still lying on her back.

  
"Nothing, bit of an earthquake," the Doctor replies.

  
"An earthquake?" Amy sits up.

  
"Manipulate the elements, it can trigger earthquakes, but don't worry about them."

  
"No?" Rory gets to his feet.

  
"No. Worry about the tidal waves caused by the earthquake." He turns to the chair. "Right, Rosanna's throne is the control hub, but she's locked the program, so, tear out every single wire and circuit in the throne. Go crazy. Hit it with a stick, anything. We need it to shut down and re-route the control to the secondary hub," they all run toward the chair. "Which I'm guessing is also the generator."

  
• • •

  
When every possible circuit and wire is ripped, torn or cut, the three run back outside to try to catch a glimpse of the Doctor.

  
"There he is!" Peyton shouts, pointing to the very top of the building. She watches in anticipation as he abseils up the building to the top.

  
He does something, it's hard to tell what from this distance. But whatever he did turns the sky off, the cloud clear and the rain stops. Amy and Rory hug each other. Peyton doesn't try and get involved until Amy grabs her arm and pulls her into the soaked embrace.

  
The crowds cheer and she can't help but join in. He did it!

  
• • •

  
The four travellers walk back to the Tardis.

  
"Now then, what about you two, eh?" The Doctor smiles. "Next stop, Leadworth registry office? Maybe I can give you away."

  
"It's fine, drop me back where you found me, I'll just say you've..."

  
"Stay," Amy says. "With us, please. Just for a bit. I want you to stay."

  
"Fine with me," the Doctor shrugs happily.

  
"Yeah, please stay," Peyton smiles.

  
"Yes, I would like that," Rory nods.

  
"Nice one." Amy kisses him. "Hey look at this. Got my spaceship, got my crew, my work here is done," she walks dramatically into the Tardis.

  
Rory scoffs. "Uh, we are not her crew."

  
"Yeah, we are," the Doctor puts a hand on his shoulder.

  
"Yeah, we are," Peyton repeats, heading inside herself. First stop, wardrobe, she needs to get out of these wet clothes.


	9. The Day that the Dreamlord Stole

Peyton pops her head out of the Tardis. Definitely not Ancient Greece.

  
"Doctor, do you have an incapability of getting us to the right place?" She asks him as he peers out over her.

  
"Don't blame me, blame the- "

  
"Rory!" Peyton has never been happier to end up in the wrong place. She steps out of the Tardis and stumbles over the edge of the flower bed toward her best friend who she hasn't seen in so long.

  
"Doctor! Peyton!" He smiles as he walks toward them.

  
"We've crushed your flowers," the Doctor apologises, Rory's face falls for a second.

  
"Oh, Amy will kill you," he assures him. Lovely. Peyton notices Rory's hair and raises an eyebrow at his questionable choices. 

  
"Where is she?" The Doctor inquires.

  
"She'll need a little longer," he explains, pointing back to the house.

  
"Whenever you're ready Amy!" The Doctor calls. Peyton finally sees Amy coming through the front door of their cottage and she raises her hands to her mouth. Oh my God.

  
"Ooohhh!" The Doctor breaks out a massive grin.

  
"Hey!" Amy smiles, opening her arms and sort of waddling toward the two, heavily pregnant.

  
"You've swallowed a planet!" The Doctor says in shock, Peyton isn't sure if he's joking.

  
"I'm pregnant!"

  
"You're huge!" He places his hands on her belly.

  
"Yeah, I'm pregnant."

  
"Look at you, when worlds collide."

  
"Doctor, no, I'm pregnant."

  
"Oh, look at you both. Five years later, being stuck with this one," he nods to Peyton who smiles sarcastically. "You haven't changed a bit, apart from ageing. And size."

  
"It's so good to see you both," Amy says.

  
"Are you pregnant?"

  
• • •

  
"Ah, Leadworth. As vibrant as ever," the Doctor grins as they walk down the little street.

  
"It's upper Leadworth actually," Rory corrects him. "We've gone slightly upmarket."

  
"Where is everyone?" Peyton asks, looking around at the deserted town.

  
"This is busy," Amy explains. Peyton and the Doctor both stare at her. "Okay! It's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Lots of people 'round here live well into their nineties."

  
"Well, don't let that get you down," the Doctor smiles at her comfortingly, clearly forgetting how humans work.

  
"It's not getting me down."

  
"So, what have you two been up to then?" Rory asks, hastily changing the subject.

  
"Oh, bit of this, bit of that," he shrugs.

  
"That could be anything with you two," Amy raises an eyebrow.

  
"He means we almost died way too many times and he accidentally left me on the Tyron, one of Galium's nine moons for six months," Peyton glares at him.

  
"It was a nice moon!" The Doctor tries to justify himself for the billionth time since it happened. "Breathable atmosphere, a bunch of plucky humans and only half the wildlife could kill you."

  
"So why did you come back, why now?" Amy stands between the two of them to keep them from fighting.

  
"Well, I wanted to see how you were," the Doctor lies. "You know me, I don't just abandon people when they leave the Tardis. This Time Lord's polite. You don't get rid of your old pal the Doctor, so easily."

  
"Hmm, you came here by mistake, didn't you?" Amy guesses.

  
"Yeah, bit of a mistake. But look, what a result. Look at this bench, what a nice bench. What will they think of next?"

  
The two Ponds don't seem very happy with the time travellers.

  
"So, what do you do around here to stave off the, you know, self-harm?" Peyton asks awkwardly. She was always going to leave Leadworth if the Doctor never came back. She wanted to go somewhere busy. London, or maybe New York. The sleepy Leadworth village was not a great match for her brain's intense processing speeds. 

  
Boredom?" She corrects her.

  
"We relax," Rory shrugs. "We live. We listen to the birds."

  
As if on queue, the sweet sound of birdsong travels down from the trees lining the road. 

  
"Yeah, See? Birds," Amy agrees with her husband. "Those are nice."

  
"We didn't get a lot of time to listen to birdsong back in the Tardis days, did we?" Rory reminds Peyton.

  
"Oh, blimey!" the Doctor leans forward, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "My head's a bit, ooh. No, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good, old..."

  
Peyton's eyes seem to unfocus, her eyelids droop and she can think of nothing better than letting her head drop onto Amy's shoulder.

  
• • •

  
"Days!" the Doctor yells, waking Peyton from her sleep. Where is she? "What? No! Yes!" She gets to her feet and looks around, console room, that's right. She looks around to see Amy and Rory on the stairs looking confused. "Oh, thank God, I had a terrible nightmare about you two. That was scary. Don't ask, you don't want to know. Safe now," he hugs Amy.

  
That weird, Peyton just had a dream about them too, not a nightmare though.

  
"Blimey," he turns to Peyton. "Never dropped off like that before. Well, never really, I'm getting on a bit you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you."

  
"Doctor, what's wrong with the console?" Peyton asks, pointing at several red flashing lights.

  
"I bet they mean something," the Doctor leans forward to inspect them.

  
"Doctor, I also had a kind of dream thing," Rory interrupts, Peyton looks at him curiously.

  
"Yeah, so did I," Amy mentions.

  
"Me too," Peyton adds. "Not a nightmare though, you two were just, married."

  
"Yeah, in a little village," Amy looks between Peyton and her fiancé.

  
"A sweet little village and you were pregnant," Rory looks at Amy's stomach.

  
"Yes, I was huge," she brings her hands to her flat stomach. "I was a boat."

  
"So we had the same dream then?" Peyton steps toward them, fiddling with her sonic pen in her fingers. "Exactly the same dream." The Doctor inspects the back of Rory's neck.

  
"Are you calling me a boat?" Amy glares at her threateningly.

  
"And Doctor, Peyton, you were visiting," Rory looks at the two of them.

  
"Yeah, yeah, you came to our cottage."

  
"How can we have had exactly the same dream?" Rory asks. "It doesn't make any sense."

  
"And you had a nightmare about us, what happened to us in the nightmare?" Amy questions.

  
"It was a bit similar in some aspects," the Doctor admits.

  
"Which aspects?" Rory raises an eyebrow.

  
"Well, all of them."

  
"We all had the same dream," Peyton realises.

  
"Basically."

  
"You said it was a nightmare," Rory puts his hands on his hips.

  
"Did I say nightmare? No, more of a really good, mare," he says unconvincingly. "Look, it doesn't matter. We all had some kind of psychic episode. We probably just jumped a time track or something. Forget it, we're back to reality now," he walks back to the console but Peyton hears a familiar chirping.

  
"Doctor, if we're back to reality, how come I can still hear birds."

  
"Yeah, the same birds," Amy adds. "The same ones we heard in the..."

  
• • •

  
"Dream."

  
Peyton's eyes snap open and she pulls her head off Amy's shoulder. She's on the bench, the bench in upper Leadworth.

  
"God, I must be overdoing it," Rory groans. "I was dreaming we were back in the Tardis, and you just had the same dream, didn't you," Rory looks at his fiancée as Peyton and the Doctor get off the bench.

  
"Back in the Tardis, weren't we just saying the same thing?"

  
The Doctor picks up a bit of gravel and Peyton assumes that the sort of thing that she should be doing as well so she crouches down to inspect the leaves of a nearby pot plant.

  
"But we thought that this was the dream, didn't we?" Rory looks around as Peyton's pen picks up nothing out of the ordinary. 

  
"I think so, why do dreams have to fade so quickly?" Amy groans as she heaves herself off the chair.

  
"Doctor, what is going on?" Rory asks.

  
"Is this because of you?" Amy asks. "Is this some Time Lordy thing because you two have shown up again?"

  
"Listen to me, trust nothing." The Doctor says as Peyton walks back to the group slowly. "From now on, trust nothing you see, hear, or feel."

  
"But we're awake now," Peyton argues.

  
"Yeah, you thought you were awake in the Tardis too," the Doctor starts to walk off and the group follow.

  
"But we're home," Amy looks around.

  
"Yeah, you're home, you're also dreaming. Trouble is, you lot. Which is which? Are we flashing forwards, or backwards? Hold on tight. This is going to be a tricky one."

  
• • •

  
Peyton awakens with a gasp, slumped against the console of the Tardis.

  
"Oh, this is bad! I don't like this!" The Doctor grabs hold of a lever which refuses to move under his hands. "Aah!" He screams as he kicks the Tardis. "Never use force, you just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, then, always use force!" He storms down the staircase.

  
"I'm going to get the manual!" Peyton calls, about the head to the library.

  
"I threw it in a supernova."

  
"You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?"

  
"Because I disagreed with it! Stop talking to me when I'm cross!"

  
"Okay!" She yells back. "But whatever's wrong with the Tardis, is that what caused us to dream about the future?"

  
"Well, if we were dreaming of the future," the Doctor calls from below deck.

  
"Well of course we were, we were in Leadworth," Amy argues.

  
"Upper Leadworth," Rory corrects.

  
"Yeah and we could still be in Upper Leadworth dreaming of this, don't you get it?" the Doctor comes back up onto the flight deck.

  
"No, okay. No. This is real," Amy says as the Doctor hands each of them some kind of tool. "I'm definitely awake."

  
"Yeah, and you thought you were definitely awake when you were all elephanty," the Doctor counters.

  
"Hey, pregnant," she points her spanner at him warningly.

  
"And you could be giving birth right now. This could be the dream. I told you, trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you, examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true." He snatches the tools back off them.

  
"Okay, well, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside," Rory starts.

  
"With a bow-tie wearing idiot," Amy adds.

  
"So maybe, 'what rings true' isn't so simple," Peyton agrees with them.

  
"A good point."

  
The lights fade, the ambient noise cools to silence, the only light in the room coming from the glow of the glass tube in the centre of the Tardis.

  
"It's dead," the Doctor says finally after pressing several buttons with no effect. "We're in a dead time machine."

  
Peyton hears the birds again and feels the urge to sleep. She grips the console, trying to prop herself up and keep herself awake.

  
"Remember this is real," the Doctor says as the couple hold each other. "But when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this place feels."

  
"It is real, I know it's real," Amy snaps.

  
• • •

  
They wake up back in Leadworth to the sound of bells.

  
"Okay this is the real one," Amy nods. "Definitely this one. It's all solid."

  
"It felt solid in the Tardis too," the Doctor points out a couple of feet away. "You can't spot a dream while you're having it." He starts waving his hands around in front of his face.

  
"Ah, what are you doing?" Peyton questions his strange movements.

  
"Looking for motion blur, pixelation. It could be a computer simulation. I don't think so though," he says, pinching Rory's cheeks.

  
"Hello, Doctor." Peyton turns to see an elderly woman smiling kindly at the four of you.

  
"Hello." Both the Doctor and Rory say at the same time.

  
"You're a doctor?" Peyton says surprised.

  
"Yeah, and unlike him, I've actually passed some exams," he nods toward the Doctor.

  
"A doctor, not a nurse, just like you've always dreamed," the Doctor begins to walk off again. "How interesting."

  
"What is?" Rory rolls his eyes as the three start to follow him.

  
"Well, your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby. Maybe this is your dream." It does make sense.

  
"It's Amy's dream too. Isn't it Amy?" Rory looks to her for support.

  
"Yes, of course, it is," she answers sweetly.

  
"What's that?" The Doctor points behind him.

  
"An old people's home."

  
Peyton looks where he's pointing and studies the brick building. She can see elderly faces looking back at them through the windows.

  
"You said everyone here lives to their nineties, there's something that doesn't make sense," the Doctor says. "Let's go poke it with a stick."

  
The Doctor starts to run off, Rory following close behind.

  
"No! Amy groans. "Can we not do that running thing."

  
"Come on you hot air balloon," Peyton laughs, taking her arm.

  
"Watch it!"

  
• • •

  
"Oh, hello Dr Williams," an old lady smiles as the four of them enter a sitting room with a bunch of old people sitting around reading or knitting.

  
"Hello Rory, love," another coos.

  
"Hello Mrs Poggit, how's your hip?" He bends down to her.

  
"A bit stiff."

  
"Oh, easy. D96 compound, plus- no. You don't have that yet. Forget that."

  
"Who're your friends," she asks, looking between Peyton and the Doctor. "Junior doctors?"

  
"Yes," Rory nods, the Doctor raises an eyebrow.

  
"Can I borrow you? You're the size of my granddaughter," the old lady ushers Peyton closer and she looks to her friends for help but Rory just nods to tell her to go to her. Peyton reluctantly takes a knee.

  
"Ah, slightly keen to move on," the Doctor frowns as the woman slips the jumper over Peyton's head. "Freak psychic schism disorder." Peyton puts her arms through the sleeves and the Doctor leans over her to get a better look at the woman. "You're incredibly old, aren't you?"

  
Birdsong.

  
Peyton falls onto her side next to the Doctor and fights to keep her eyes open but with no success.

  
• • •

  
"Okay, I hate this, Doctor. Stop it. Because this is definitely real, it's definitely this one, I keep saying that, don't I?" Amy turns to Peyton and Rory as the Doctor runs up the stairs.

  
"It's bloody cold," Peyton complains, hands retreating as far as they can into her jacket.

  
"The heating's off!" The Doctor calls.

  
"The heating's off," Rory groans wrapping his arms around himself.

  
"Put a jumper on, that's what I always do."

  
"Ah, yeah, sorry about Mrs Poggit. She's so lovely though," Rory leans against the console next to Amy.

  
"I won't believe her nice old lady act if I were you," the Doctor replies darkly.

  
"What do you mean act?" Amy frowns.

  
"Everything's off," the Doctor announces, changing the subject. "Sensors, vote power, we're drifting. The scanner's down so we can even see out." He walks down the stairs back to them. "We could be anywhere, someone, something, is overriding my controls!"

  
"Well, that took a while." A figure appears out of nowhere at the top of the stairs. Peyton didn't expect an answer so the sudden intrusion frightens her quite strongly. The Doctor had always said that nothing can get into the Tardis. "Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm, Him in the bow tie," he makes his way down the stairs laughing.

  
"How did you get into my Tardis?" The Doctor, a great deal taller than the intruder looks down at him. "What are you?"

  
"What should we call me?" He smiles sinisterly. "Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord."

  
"Nice look," the Doctor comments on how similarly they're dressed.

  
"This? No, I'm not convinced. Bow ties?"

  
The Doctor throws a small rubber ball that he just happened to have in his jacket pocket, it flies right through him like a hologram

  
"Interesting," he says.

  
"I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord, it's in the name, isn't it? Spooky, not quite there, and yet, very much here."

  
He disappears and reappears behind Peyton, giving her quite a fright as she scrambles away from him, projection or not.

  
"I'll do the talking thank you," the Doctor says darkly, walking past you to get to him. "Peyton, why don't you take your guess at what, that is."

  
"A Dream Lord? He creates dreams, manipulates them."

  
"Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks," the Doctor offers.

  
"And what about the two bumbling humans here? Do they get a guess?"

  
"Uh, listen, mate, if anyone's bumbling 'round here, it's the Doctor," Rory says angrily, defending his pride.

  
"Ah, well, there's a delusion I'm not responsible for."

  
"No, he is. Isn't he Amy?"

  
"Oh, Amy. You have to sort your men out. Choose even."

  
"I have chosen." She disagrees. "Of course I've chosen. It's you, stupid," she hits Rory in the stomach, too scared to take her eyes off the Dream Lord.

  
"Oh, good, thanks," he says as if he genuinely wasn't sure who she was going to say.

  
"You can't fool me," he says, changing positions again, causing Peyton and Rory to jump away as a reflex. "I've seen your dreams, some of them twice Amy. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply, or a real face."

  
"Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?" The Doctor asks, stepping closer, ushering Peyton behind him.

  
"Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground."

  
"Am I?"

  
"If you had any more tawdry quirks, you could open up a tawdry quirk shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student, your old friend's daughter who you've adopted in some fruitless attempt to make up for your past parental failures." Peyton's breath catches in her throat, she sees the Doctor glance back at her, his face unreadable. "I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are. Where was I?"

  
"Um you were-"

  
"I know where I was!" The Dream Lord cuts Rory off, now on the balcony above the console. "So here's your challenge; two worlds. Here in the time machine, and there in the village that time forgot. One's real, the other's fake. And just to make it more interesting. You're to face in both worlds a deadly danger but only one of the dangers is real. Tweet tweet, time to sleep."

  
Birdsong again.

  
"Or are you waking up?" He laughs.

  
Peyton's legs buckle underneath her and the glass floor has never looked so inviting.

  
• • •

  
Peyton jumps to her feet, then turns to help Amy up.

  
"This is bad." The Dream Lord is back, he walks in wearing a suit, holding some x-rays. "This is very very bad. Look at this x-ray. Your brain is completely see-through, but then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."

  
"Always, what do you mean always?" Peyton questions him, quite defensively. Is the Doctor not telling them something, do they know each other?

  
"Now then, the prognosis is this, if you die in the dream, you wake up in reality, healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality."

  
"What happens?" Rory asks stupidly.

  
"You die idiot. That's why it's called reality."

  
"Have you met the Doctor before?" Amy asks. "Do you know him? Doctor, does he?"

  
"Now don't get jealous. He's been around our boy. Never mind that, you've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you Doctor. Take two, and call me in the morning."

  
He disappears.

  
"Okay, I don't like him," Peyton lifts her arms to pull off Mrs Poggit's jumper. "Who is he?"

  
"I don't know," the Doctor shrugs. "It's a big universe."

  
"Why is he doing this?" Amy folds her arms.

  
"Maybe because he has no physical form, that gets you down after a while. So, he's taking it out on folks like us who can touch and eat and feel." He gets to his feet from the chair.

  
"What does he mean, deadly danger though?" Rory asks. "Nothing deadly has ever happened here. I mean, a bit of natural wastage, obviously-"

  
"They've all gone," the Doctor cuts Rory off. "They've all, gone." And with that, the Doctor is gone with Peyton on his tail.

  
"Why would they leave?" Peyton asks as they leave the building. "And what did you mean about Mrs Poggit's 'nice old lady act'?"

  
"One of my tawdry quirks," he turns quickly to face her. "Sniffing our things that aren't what they seem. So come on, let's think. The mechanics of this reality split that we're stuck in. Time asleep exactly matches time in our dream world. Unlike in conventional dreams."

  
"And we're all dreaming the same dream at the same time," Rory adds.

  
"Yes, sort of communal trance. Very rare, very complicated, I'm sure there's a dream giveaway tell, but my mind isn't working because this village is so dull!" He yells frustratedly. "I'm slowing down like you two have, Peyton better get to work on her sudoku's so she doesn't slow down too!"

  
"Ooh. Ow!" Amy grunts, gripping her stomach. "Really?"

  
Peyton and the boys go into a panic, this is only aided by Amy's screaming.

  
"It's coming!" She grips onto Rory and the Doctor's forearms and Peyton tries to be helpful.

  
"Okay, you're a doctor, help her," the Doctor pleads with Rory.

  
"You're a Doctor!" He yells back.

  
"It's okay they're Doctors." Peyton holds Amy as the two men crouch down, the Doctor puts his hands out between Amy's legs.

  
"What do we do?" He says frightened.

  
"Okay, it's not coming," Amy stops screaming and Peyton breathes out a sigh of relief.

  
"What?" The Doctor stands up again.

  
"This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet, so don't you call it dull again. Ever. Okay?"

  
"Sorry," the Doctor mumbles.

  
"Yeah," Amy glares at him. Before walking through both Peyton and him toward a swing set. They follow.

  
Before Peyton can get there though, the Doctor dashes in front of her up to Amy and they both take a seat on the swings. Rory stands behind Amy, and Peyton leans on the red metal pole next to the Doctor.

  
"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room," the Doctor begins as he begins to swing himself by kicking the ground. Sometimes he can be such a child.

  
"I have to be this size, I'm having a baby," Amy huffs, quite offended.

  
"No, no, the woman seemed a little... But no. Is nobody going to mention Rory's ponytail?"

  
"I was going to but I thought we were just going to ignore it," Peyton laughs.

  
"You hold him down, I'll cut it off?" He smiles up at her.

  
"This from the man in the bow tie?" Rory cocks an eyebrow.

  
"Bowties are cool." He gets up off the swing and looks off into the distance, Peyton takes the opportunity to steal his spot. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs Poggit as a babysitter."

  
The three of them leave the swing set and move toward him, watching the little old lady at the top of the stairs to the castle.

  
"What is she doing? What does she want?" He asks.

  
Birdsong.

  
"Oh, no. Here we go," Amy says sleepily.

  
• • •

  
"It's really cold now, you got any warm clothes?" Peyton asks shivering taking a flannel shirt tied around her waist and pulls it on but that is hardly enough.

  
"What does it matter if we're cold? We have to know what she's up to!" The Doctor snaps. "Sorry, sorry. Um, there should be some stuff down there, have a look," he points to the lower level of the deck.

  
The three companions head over to where he pointed while the Doctor starts, whatever he's doing.

  
"I want the other life," Rory says. "You know, where we're happy and settled and, about to have a baby." Okay, this is going to be one of those couplely conversations where Peyton is completely invisible.

  
"But, don't you wonder, if that life is real, then why would we give up all this? Why would anyone?"

  
"Because we're going to freeze to death?"

  
"The Doctor will fix it," she throws a blanket at Rory, two at Peyton and keeps one for herself.

  
Peyton heads back up to the main deck to see the Doctor fiddling with, something.

  
"Rory, wind," he instructs, passing the tool to him. "Amy, could you attach this to the monitor please?"

  
"I was promised amazing worlds, instead I get duff central heating and a weird kitcheny windup device."

  
"It's a generator, get winding," the Doctor orders.

  
"Ah, not enough," Amy looks at the monitor as Peyton throws one of her blankets over the Doctor's shoulders.

  
"Rory, wind!"

  
"Why is the Dream Lord picking on you?" Peyton asks. "Why us?" But before the Doctor can provide any answers, the monitor on the far wall buzzed to life, showing empty space.

  
"Where are we?" Amy asks tentatively.

  
"We're in trouble."

  
"What is that?" Rory points to a glowing blue ball not so comfortably far away.

  
"A star?" The Doctor suggests. "A cold star?" He rushes down to the doors to get a better look. He swings it open and a bright light penetrates the room. "That's why we're freezing. It's not a heating malfunction. We're drifting toward a cold sun. There's our deadly danger for this version of reality." He slams the doors shut.

  
"So this must be the dream, there's no such thing as a cold star, stars burn," Peyton reasons.

  
"So's this one, it's just burning cold," the Doctor shivers.

  
"Is that possible?" Rory asks.

  
"I can't know everything!" He runs up the stairs to them. "Why does everybody always expect me to know everything!" He sits down in the chair.

  
"Okay, this is something you haven't seen before, so, does that mean this is the dream?" Rory rubs his arms trying to create heat.

  
"I don't know," the Doctor repeats himself. "But there it is. And I'd say we've got about fourteen minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem." He gets up from the chair.

  
"Because you know how to get us out of this?" Amy asks hopefully.

  
"Because we will have frozen to death by then," the Doctor says, pulling a stethoscope over his head.

  
"Oh, then what are we going to do," Peyton groans. Being frozen to death is not on her top ten favourite things.

  
"Stay calm, don't get sucked into it. Because this just might be the battle that we have to lose." He holds the stethoscope to the console.

  
"Oh, this is so you, isn't it?" Rory shakes his head.

  
"What?"

  
"A weird new star, fourteen minutes left to live, and only one man to save the day? Huh? I just wanted a nice village and a family."

  
"Oh dear, Doctor." The Dream Lord is back. "Dissent in the ranks. There was an old Doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away. He let down his friends and-" He stops when he hears the birdsong. "Oh no, we've run out of time. Don't spend too long there or you'll, um, catch your death here."

  
Eyelids, so heavy. Legs, so week. Peyton tries to prop herself up on the Tardis but that doesn't last long before she crumples to the floor

  
• • •

  
Peyton runs up the stairs behind the Doctor.

  
"Where are the children gone?" He asks, staring out at discarded toys and backpacks accompanied by piles of dust.

  
"Don't know. Playtime's probably over," Rory shrugs. The Doctor runs over to the field and Peyton follows, he starts scanning the piles of, whatever it is. She pulls her sonic pen out of her jacket's inner pocket and start scanning too.

  
"Ah, you see, this is the real one," Rory breathes in deeply. "I just feel it, don't you feel it?"

  
"I feel it in both places," Amy admits.

  
They continue their conversation as Peyton crouches down to inspect the pile at her feet. A drink bottle, a sandwich, an iron man figurine. She glances at her pen. The readings clearly and shockingly detect human DNA. She looks up to the Doctor who looks back at her, horrified.

  
"Doctor, Peyton, what are you doing, and what are those piles of dust?" Amy asks.

  
"Playtimes definitely over," the Doctor gulps.

  
"Oh, my God," Amy whispers.

  
"What happened to them?" Rory asks as Peyton slides her sonic pen back in its pocket. The Doctor doesn't provide an explanation but simply runs to the stairs and she follows, looking over that crumbled castle wall Peyton sees a procession of old people filing down the road

  
"I think they did," he says.

  
"They're just old people," Amy frowns.

  
"No, they're very old people," he starts to run down the stairs. "Sorry Rory, I don't think you're what's been keeping them alive."

  
"Hello, peasants," the Dream Lord is back, this time wearing a grey suit. "What's this? Attack of the old people? Oh, that's ridiculous. This has got to be the dream, hasn't it? What do you think Amy? Let's all jump under a bus and wake up in the Tardis. You first." He points to the Doctor.

  
"Leave her alone," he growls.

  
"Do that again. I love it when he does that. Tall, dark hero, 'leave her alone'," he imitates the Doctor.

  
"Just leave her," Rory warns.

  
"Yes, you're not quite so impressive. But I know where your heart lies, don't I, Amy Pond?"

  
"Shut up. Just shut up and leave me alone," she takes a step back as he walks toward her, Peyton steps in protectively in front of her, staring down the Dream Lord who gives her a sarcastic look of fear before looking past her back to Amy.

  
"Listen, I can't say you're any more intimidating than Beaky Boy. Step aside, Blondey," he peers past her shoulder to look at Amy. "Loves a redhead our naughty Doctor. Has he told you about Elizabeth the first? Well, she thought she was the first."

  
"Drop it. Drop all of it. I know who you are," the Doctor commands.

  
"Of course you don't."

  
"Of course I do."

  
"No idea how you can be here, but only one person in the universe who hates me as much as you do," the Doctor looks him up and down. The Dream Lord smiles creepily.

  
"Never mind me, maybe you should worry about them," he nods toward the group of old people slowly advancing. And then he's gone.

  
"Hi," Rory waves.

  
"Hello," Peyton grins insincerely.

  
"Hello! We were wondering where you went," the Doctor walks toward them. "To get reinforcements by the look of it. Are you alright? You look a bit tense."

  
"Hello, Mr Nainby," Rory waves at a particularly close old man.

  
"Rory," Peyton warns.

  
"Mr Nainby ran the sweetshop, he used to slip me the odd free toffee."

  
Out of nowhere, Mr Nainby lifts Rory up by the collar.

  
"Did I not say thank you?"

  
With some amazing strength, he throws Rory ten odd feet backward.

  
"How did he do that?" Rory asks from the mud.

  
"I suspect he's not himself, don't get comfortable here, you may have to run, fast," the Doctor says, ignoring Amy's protest at the idea.

  
"Can't we just talk to them?" Amy groans.

  
The old people open their mouths and a horrifying green eye poke out, attached to some sort of eye stalk, tendril thing.

  
"There is an eye in their mouths," Peyton stammers in disbelief as the Doctor whips out his sonic.

  
"There are whole creatures inside every one of them. They've been there for years, living and waiting."

  
"That is disgusting," Rory cringes. "They're not going to be peeping out of anywhere else, are they?"

  
Mrs Poggit lunges forward and from her mouth sprays a green gas toward the four of them.

  
"Okay leave them, leave them," he holds out his arms to keep the three of companions behind him. "Talk to me, talk to me. You are Etnodeans, a proud, ancient race, you're better than this!"

  
Peyton turns to Rory and Amy. "You two, head back to the cottage."

  
"No, we're not leaving you and the Doctor!" Amy protests.

  
"Oh yes, you are. And besides. Tactical advantage if we split up, they're old, they can't run that fast. We'll keep them busy, you get a head start." Amy opens her mouth to protest but Peyton puts a finger to her lips. "If this is reality, my priority is you and that baby," Peyton glances to her friend's stomach. Rory decides that is good enough for him and takes Amy's arm.

  
Peyton turns back around to see Mrs Poggit lunging forward and spraying gas at a postman who had the misfortune to walk past. He stumbles backwards before disintegrating into a pile of ash. That's what happened to the children. Oh my God.

  
"You need to leave this planet," the Doctor orders.

  
• • •

  
Running is hard when all she wants to do is sleep.

  
Peyton and the Doctor grip each other's arms as they fight to stay awake, running awkwardly down the street. He pulls her into a shop and Peyton slams the door behind them. The Doctor locks it and flips the sign from open to closed.

  
"Really?" Peyton mutters. The birdsong is gone.

  
"Oh I love a good butcher, don't you?" The Dream Lord stands behind the counter in a traditional butchers attire. "We've got to use these places or they'll shut down. Oh, but you're probably a vegetarian aren't you? You big flop haired wuss." The Doctor ignores him and grabs some keys from a shelf and tries to open the back door.

  
"Oh pipe down, we're busy," Peyton groans.

  
"Oh look, little Peyton standing up for you. You dragged her into this mess. How long till she ends up like the rest?"

  
"Stop it!" The Doctor yells.

  
"Oh, maybe you need a little sleep."

  
The birdsong returns.

  
Peyton and the Doctor both crumple to the floor, holding each other's sleeves to try tether onto reality.

  
"Oh, wait a moment, if you both fall asleep here, several dozen angry pensioners will destroy you with their horrible eye thingies."

  
The Doctor pulls Peyton to her feet and half drags, half throws her behind the counter. Everything is so heavy. With his help, she pulls herself up and he shoves his fingers in his ears, she copies.

  
"Fingers in the ears, brilliant," the Dream Lord laughs. "What's next? Shouting 'boo!'?"

  
Sleep would be so good. The Dream Lord's world slurs and Peyton slides down the wall.

  
• • •

  
Peyton wakes up in the Tardis. Amy and Rory stand there shivering. She looks down at the Doctor, still asleep. A few seconds later, however, he jumps to his feet.

  
"Are we safe?" Peyton asks.

  
"Yep, don't worry," he shakes his head.

  
"It's definitely colder," Amy shivers.

  
"The four of us have to agree now which is the dream," The Doctor tried to wrap his jacket around him further.

  
"Definitely this one," Peyton nods.

  
"You could be right, but the science is all wrong here. Burning ice?" Amy wraps her blanket around her.

  
"No, no, no. Ice can burn, sofas can read, it's a big universe!" The Doctor argues. "We have to agree which battle to lose, all of us, now."

  
"Okay, which world do you think is real?" Amy asks.

  
"This one."

  
"No, the other one," Rory protests, changing his mind for some reason.

  
"Yeah, but are we disagreeing or competing?" The Doctor yells.

  
"Competing, over what?" The two boys look at her. Peyton drops her face into her hands.

  
"Ohh," Amy rolls her eyes.

  
"Nine minutes till impact," the Doctor looks at his watch.

  
"What temperature is it?" Peyton wonders.

  
"Outside? Brrr, how many naughts you got? Inside? I don't know, but I can't feel my feet and, other parts," The Doctor rubs his arms to create some heat.

  
"D-don't need to know," Peyton shivers.

  
"I think all my parts are basically fine," Rory clarifies for, no one.

  
"Stop it," Peyton groans.

  
"Can't we call for help?" Rory asks, picking up the console phone.

  
"Yeah, because the universe is really quite small and there's bound to be someone nearby," the Doctor hits him on the head with it and puts it back.

  
"Put these on, the three of you," Amy throws the blankets back at Peyton and slides one over Rory's head to demonstrate. She's cut a hole in the creating a sort of poncho thing, Peyton slips it over her head, thankful for the extra layer of warmth.

  
"Oh, a poncho," Rory says, Peyton laughs as the Doctor does a little twirl in his. "The biggest crime against fashion since the Lederhosen."

  
"Ah, here we go," Amy smiles, pulling her hair out from hers. "Got my crew, my poncho crew. If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band."

  
"We're not going to die," Rory says, trying to be encouraging Peyton guesses.

  
"No, we're not. But our time is running out. If we fall asleep here, we're in trouble. If we could divide up, then we'd have an active presence in each world, but the dream will be switching us between worlds. Why? Why? What's the logic?" The Doctor paces back and forth.

  
"Good idea, Veggie," the Dream Lord says, appearing next to the Doctor with his own dark blue poncho to pace with him. "Let's divide you four up so I can have a chat to your lovely companion. Maybe I'll keep her, and you can have pointy nose and cling- wrap all to yourself for all reality, should you manage to clamber aboard some sort of reality."

  
Birdsong. The Doctor, Rory and Peyton start to sway but Amy remains unaffected.

  
"Can't you hear that?" Rory asks.

  
"What? No."

  
"Amy, don't be scared," the Doctor puts a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be back."

  
• • •

  
Peyton's eyes snap open and she finds herself slumped in the Doctor's lap with his arms around her middle. Did he carry her here? She scrambles off him and he jumps up too, pressing his ear to the door.

  
"Are they out there? Where are we?" Peyton asks.

  
"Yes. Butcher's cold store." He answers plainly. He gets out his sonic. "Okay, where is it?"

  
"Where is what?" Peyton asks.

  
"When I say run, run."

  
He pushes open the door and points his sonic at the light making it explode in a shower of sparks, dazing the attackers.

  
"Run!" He yells. Peyton pushes past the old people and out the door into the street. She and the Doctor keep running till in the distance, Peyton spies a van with a pensioner banging on the window. Someone inside is screaming. The two Time Lords look at each other before sprinting toward it.

  
"Oh, they could live near the shops could they?" The Doctor yells. The Doctor grabs the man and throws him down opening the door and pushing Peyton inside. "It's okay, it's only us," he says to the man inside. She slides into the middle seat, pressed against the stranger and the Doctor.

  
He starts the vehicle and drives off.

  
"Peyton, open the back door," he orders as they drive past a park where some people are being attacked.

  
Peyton pulls her sonic out and reaches over the back of the Doctor's head and focus on the door handle. It clicks and the force of the van makes it slide open. The Doctor rolls his window down.

  
"Get in, get in. Quickly, over here!" He yells. The two women run toward them and the Doctor slows down just a little to let them clamber aboard. "Peyton!" She points her sonic at the door to force it closed.

  
A few moments later they come across a small family and one of the ladies in the back wrenches the door open.

  
"Come on, let's go!" The Doctor yells at them.

  
• • •

  
"Everybody out, out, out! Into the church! That's right. Don't answer the door!" The Doctor and Peyton help everyone out before Peyton climbs back into the passenger seat while the Doctor drives.

  
"It's make your mind up time, in both worlds," the Dream Lord appears on the backseat in a race car driver's uniform.

  
"Fine, we need to find our friends," Peyton snaps at him.

  
"Friends? Is that the right word for the people he acquires?"

  
She looks toward the Doctor put he keeps looking forward out of the windshield.

  
"Friends are people you stay in touch with. Your friends never seem to see you again once they've grown up. The old man prefers the company of the young, does he not?"

  
• • •

  
He pulls up beside the Pond's cottage and the both of them peer out the windows, watching the old people try to get in. The Dream Lord had disappeared a while ago, but the Doctor was not one to talk the rest of the ride. Staring adamantly out into the road, knuckles going white from gripping the steering wheel.

  
"Okay," he says, clicking off his seatbelt and grabbing the door handle. "On the count of three?" Peyton nods. "One. Two. Three!"

  
• • •

  
"Ahh!" Amy screams as Peyton pops her head through the window.

  
"Sorry, we had to stop by the butchers." She pushes her self up into the room and turns as the Doctor heaves himself through the window as well. He collapses on the ground.

  
"What are we going to do?" Rory asks.

  
"I dunno. I thought the freezing Tardis was real, but now I'm not so sure."

  
"Oh," Amy doubles over. "I think the baby's starting."

  
"Honestly?" Rory asks.

  
"Would I make it up at a time like this?" Amy yells, the Doctor gets to his feet.

  
"Well, you do have a history of, being, very lovely."

  
Peyton places a hand on her back as she screams in pain. This is the last thing they need.

  
"Why are they so desperate to kill us!" Rory shouts.

  
"They're scared," the Doctor says. "Fear generates savagery."

  
Suddenly the window shatters and a garden gnome lands on the floor. No one can possibly throw that, right?

  
Rory gets up to investigate the window and is hit by some green gas.

  
"Rory!" The three yell. He stumbles back till he hits the dresser and falls to the floor. The Doctor grabs a lamp and hits whoever is sitting outside the window off and runs right back to Rory's side. Parts of him start to crumble and fall like dust.

  
Peyton places a hand on his knee, delicately trying not to put too much weight on him, scared that he would crumble beneath her and feels the tears well up in her eyes.

  
"Look after our baby," he looks up to Amy.

  
Peyton pulls her hand away as he falls away into nothing but ash.

  
"No, no," Amy says. Peyton chokes back a sob. "Come back."

  
Amy looks up to the Doctor. "Save him. You save everyone, you always do. It's what you do."

  
"Not always. I'm sorry."

  
"Then what is the point of you?" She spits, he looks at the floor. Peyton watches her touch the pile that used to be Rory before pulling herself up with the dresser. She does the same.

  
"This is the dream," Amy says. "Definitely this one. If we die here, we wake up, yeah?"

  
The Doctor nods. "Unless we just die."

  
"Either way this is my only chance of seeing him again. This is the dream."

  
"How do you know?" Peyton asks.

  
"Because if this is real life, I don't want it. I don't want it."

  
• • •

  
The three march out the front door, past the flower gardens and the murderous elderly people.

  
"Why aren't they attacking?" Amy screams.

  
"Either because this is just a dream or because they know what we're about to do," the Doctor says surely. The three march up to the van and Amy turns around, sticking her hand out, asking for the keys.

  
"You're very sure, this could be the real world."

  
"It can't be," she shakes her head. "Rory isn't here. I didn't know, I honestly didn't know until right now. I just want him." She sniffs back tears.

  
"Okay," the Doctor says, dropping the keys into her hand.

  
Amy gets in the driver's side and the Doctor holds the passenger's door open for Peyton before getting in himself. They don't bother with seatbelts.

  
"I love Rory and I never told him. And now he's gone." Amy turns the car engine on. The Doctor looks out the side window but you can't see what he's looking at.

  
Amy slams her foot on the accelerator, smashing through the wooden fence, destroying the flowerbeds, knocking over a few old people and...

  
• • •

  
Peyton finds herself awake but her eyes don't want to open. This is the coldest she's ever been. She forces them open and the first thing she sees is the Doctor's face covered in frost, smiling softly down at her.

  
"So, you chose this world? Well done. You got it right. And with only seconds left. Fair is fair, let's warm you up." The Dream Lord fiddles with the controls and the Tardis buzzes back to life. "I hope you've enjoyed your little fictions. It all came out of your imaginations, so I'll leave you to ponder on that. I have been defeated. I shall withdraw. Farewell."

  
Peyton sits up. Still shivering. Not quite warm enough yet. Amy and Rory are holding each other and the Doctor it's doing something with the controls.

  
Peyton pulls herself up on the railings and walks over to the Doctor. The two don't say anything, Peyton just leans on him. Their combined body heat slowly warming her up.

  
The Tardis makes a banging sound before taking off, Peyton smiles, head still on the Doctor's shoulder. All she wants to do now is go to bed.

  
"What are we doing now?" Amy asks.

  
"Me? I'm going to blow up the Tardis."

  
"What?" Peyton jumps back from him.

  
"Notice how helpful the Dream Lord was. Okay, there was misinformation, red herring, malice. And I could have done without the limerick." The Ponds get to their feet. "But he was always very keen to make us choose between dream and reality."

  
With a loud bang, the console glows red and Peyton holds on tight. The Doctor laughs.

  
"What are you doing!" Amy shouts.

  
"Doctor, the Dream Lord conceded, this isn't the dream!" Rory yells.

  
"Yes, it is!" He flicks another switch. "Star burning cold? Do me a favour. The Dream Lord has no power over the real world. He was offering us a choice between two dreams."

  
"How do you know that?" Peyton frets. He looks at her with a knowing smirk.

  
"Because I know who he is."

  
• • •

  
Peyton sits up. She's in the Tardis library sitting at a desk. She looks down in front of her. A musty old book. Peyton puts the page marker ribbon back in it and closes it. 'Gallifreyan Politics', no wonder she fell asleep. She gets up and heads down to the control room where she finds the Doctor inspecting something.

  
"Any questions?" He asks. Peyton hears footsteps behind her and sees Amy and Rory looking just as confused.

  
"Um, what's that?" Amy asks as the three companions walk down the stairs together.

  
"A speck of psychic pollen," the Doctor explains. "From the Candle meadows of the of Crast on Slava. It must have been hanging around for ages. Fell in the time rotor, heated up, and induced a dream state for all of us." He walks to the Tardis doors and throws it out into space.

  
"So, that's was the Dream Lord then?" Rory leans on the railings. "Those little specks?"

  
The Doctor walks back to the console.

  
"No, no, no. No. Sorry, wasn't it obvious? The Dream Lord was me," he points to himself. "Psychic pollen, it's a mind parasite. It feeds on everything dark in you. Gives it a voice, turns it against you. Nine hundred and seven, it's got a lot to go on."

  
"But why didn't it feed on us too?" Peyton frowns.

  
"The darkness in you three?" He chuckles. "It would have starved to death in an instant. I choose my friends with great care. Otherwise, I'm stuck in my own company, and you know how that works out."

  
Peyton walks toward him. "But those things he said about you. You don't think any of that's true?"

  
He looks at her. Those sad, sad eyes. Peyton's heart drops.

  
"Amy, right now a question is about to occur to Rory," he changes the topic, addressing Amy instead. "And seeing as the answer is about to change his life, I think you should have him your full attention." He spins Amy around and pushes her toward Rory.

  
"Yeah, actually, yeah," Rory frowns, you lean against the console to watch. "'Cause what I don't get is, you blew up the Tardis. That stopped that dream. But what stopped the Leadworth dream?"

  
"Um, we crashed a campervan."

  
"Oh, right. I should remember that."

  
"No, you weren't there. You were already..."

  
"Already what?"

  
"Dead. You died in that dream. Mrs Poggit got you."

  
"Okay. How did you know it was a dream before you crashed the van? How did you know you would just, die?"

  
"I didn't."

  
"Oh."

  
"Yeah."

  
" _Oh_ ," he takes her hand.

  
And finally, Rory takes initiative and kisses her. It's sweet for a moment but then Peyton starts silently retching, the Doctor punches her in the shoulder. She punches him back.

  
"So, well then. Where now?" The Doctor claps his hands. "Oh, should we just pop down to the swimming pool for a few lengths?"

  
"I don't know," Rory shrugs.

  
"Please be the first one, I do not want to see him in a speedo," Peyton groans. The Docto gives her a look of mock offence.

  
"Anywhere's good for me, anywhere." Okay, it's the first option. That's good. "I'm happy anywhere. It's up to Amy this time. Amy's choice."


	10. In The Tardis #2

Peyton walks into the console room, looking down from the top of the stairs in her matching flannel pyjamas. With one hand on the railing, she walks down to the main deck, the only noise being the quiet thrum of the engines and her slippered feet hitting the metal stairs.

  
"Having trouble sleeping?" She jumps, not expecting to hear the Doctor's voice from beneath the deck.

  
"A little I guess," Peyton shrugs, peering down through the glass floor.

  
"Come down here."

  
She heads down another flight of stairs to where the Doctor sits on a small hammock, tinkering with something.

  
"So what's the problem?"

  
"There isn't one, My brain just didn't want to stop so I thought I'd go for a stroll," she explains as he slides his goggles off his face and gets off the hammock.

  
"Then can you give me a hand?" He thrusts the goggles out toward her, before pointing at her hand. "Yours are smaller than mine."

  
Peyton gives him and unsure look before taking the goggles from his hands and sliding them onto her head.

  
"Alright, get in nice and close," he instructs. "Look right in here now, do you see the orange switch?" He points toward a small opening in the casing under the console.

  
"Yeah," she replies. It's tiny.

  
"Do you think you could reach in there and flick it the other way?"

  
Peyton tentatively slides her hand through the opening. "I think, almost. There!" With a satisfying click, the switch moves beneath her fingers.

  
"Look at you!" He gives her a high five with her free hand. She tries to pull her hand out but it's stuck.

  
"Doctor, I-"

  
"Just relax," he says. "The muscles in your hand are tensing, making your hand just that tiny bit bigger. Just relax and let me."

  
Peyton relaxes and feels the Doctor's cold hands slide over her wrist and helps her pull it out. It hurts a little but it comes out with just a little grease stain on it.

  
"Here," the Doctor tosses her a rag to wipe it.

  
"You could've just used one of your tools to do it," Peyton's says as she wipes the dark oil off her hand, pulling the steampunk goggles off too, she didn't really need them anyway.

  
"What?"

  
"You didn't really need me, you could've used a spanner or not-so-sonic screwdriver to do the job."

  
"Well, you were there, you didn't have anything better to do," he smiles.

  
"I've been thinking, about what the Dream Lord said." He looks at her cautiously. "Do you really think of me as like, a daughter?"

  
He chuckles, crouching down to meet her eyes. "Like I said. The Dream Lord was me."

  
"So..."

  
"Your father and I go way back. We grew up together. We were going to see the stars together. We cared for each other like brothers. But stuff happened, I guess, and times change. But, you are truly your father's daughter and well, you're the last even remotely like me. I just think it's it's only right for you to see the stars like he wanted to."

  
"Did something happen? Why wasn't he able to see the stars?"

  
"No, he saw them alright. Just before he burned them," he says darkly. "I don't want you to make the same mistake. Mistaking chaos for beauty."

  
Peyton nods and he holds out his hands in a sign to help her up. He takes her hands and she stands to her feet.

  
"Back to bed, I think, Miss Barrett."

  
She smiles. "But what if I still can't sleep?"

  
"Well, you've got a big day tomorrow."

  
"It better be."

  
• • •

  
A week later Peyton bounds into the console room only to falter when she sees the Doctor glaring up at her, leaning against the controls with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

  
"What?" She frowns, approaching him slowly, analysing his expression as it rakes over her.

  
"You've been bothering me," he says grumpily.

  
"Care to elaborate?" Peyton swallows back insecurity in her mind.

  
"How did you escape U.N.I.T?" He steps closer to her. "What exactly happened? Nothing, and I mean, nothing, just gets out of U.N.I.T."

  
"I think you're forgetting that I'm a genius and incredibly charming individual," Peyton laughs uneasily. "I got lucky, I guess."

  
"But you see, Peyton, you don't just get lucky to break out of one of the most secure and top secret facilities on planet Earth-"

  
"Unless... they let me go," Peyton interrupts, staring off into space. "In fifteen years I had never even considered that."

  
"Of course you hadn't," he smacks her lightly in the forehead with the palm of his hand before racing around to the other side of the console. "Stupid human brain overlooking things."

  
"Hey!" Peyton calls, quite offended, he doesn't react, only launching the Tardis into flight. "Where are we going."

  
"Leadworth, but when, you tell me. What was the date you arrived in Leadworth, time of day?"

  
"Doctor, I was six!" She squints her eyes at him, the stupidest genius in the universe. "1995. It was summer, July."

  
"Oh, that's very helpful," the Doctor says sarcastically. "What were you just saying about being a genius?"

  
"Why are we going to Leadworth anyway," Peyton asks, heading around the console to the Doctor. "What exactly are you looking for?"

  
"I've set the Tardis to scan Leadworth for the earliest signs of time travel. It leaves traces, like a footprint in the sand," he ignores the question as he so often does. "See, look here," he points at the monitor. "The first impression of time travel, July seventeenth, seven past two in the afternoon."

  
"So why are we going," she reiterates. "What's the point?"

  
"The point is, a little girl threw a time travel device down a gutter, thirty centuries before it's inception, so we're going to get it."

  
The Tardis lands and Peyton follows the Doctor down to the doors.

  
He throws them open and they step out into the park little park.

  
"It feels like forever since I've been home," Peyton whispers as she looks around, noticing a little late that the Doctor is walking off, leaving her to jog to catch up.

  
"So where is little Peyton then," the Doctor asks as they near the road. The very road where she landed all those years ago.

  
"I don't know, knowing your flying how do you know we are even on the right day?" Peyton scratches her head. Her eyes fall upon a bench, far newer than she remembers in 2010.

  
"Excuse me," he frowns. "I'm an excellent pilot. And don't you complain when you want lessons."

  
"Doctor, take off your jacket," she says, walking over to the bench, sitting on it before looking over to the road, a thoughtful frown settling onto her face.

  
"My what?" The Doctor splutters in shock before a cheeky smile dances across his face. "We're in the middle of a park."

  
"Shut up," Peyton glares. "When I got here there was a man sitting on this bench." She closed her eyes, trying to picture his face but it was so long ago and she hadn't really paid that much attention. "He had a newspaper, brown hair, young, cream shirt and a, oh, oh..."

  
She reaches her fingers up to her neck. He had a bow tie.

  
"Oh, that's marvellous," the Doctor laughs, tossing his brown jacket toward her and doing a little twirl toward the bench. "Love it when it does that; predestination." 

  
He raises a hand out to her for a high five which she accepts, rolling her eyes. He pulls her up from the bench and sits down himself, crossing his ankles over one another and clasping his hands in his lap. "So what do I do now?" 

  
"Wait there," Peyton says, holding the jacket over her shoulder with a finger. "You need a newspaper." 

  
"Right, yes, newspaper. Will there be sudoku? I love sudoku," the Doctor babbles as Peyton spies a conveniently placed newspaper discarded on a nearby picnic table. She snatches it up and tosses it toward the Doctor who leafs through it eagerly. 

  
"So I appeared somewhere around there," she says, pointing to the road. "Once you see her, give her second to notice you, chuck the paper in the bin and then walk off."

  
"Walk where?"

  
"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention," she rubs her eyebrows with her thumb and forefinger. 

  
"You know, you're not very helpful at all today," he says, looking at her over the paper. 

  
"Can you just-" 

  
The crackle of a Time-Vortex Manipulator cuts Peyton off. She freezes before diving behind a large tree, careful not to be seen by the little girl who just appeared out of thin air. 

  
Peyton takes the chance to peek over her shoulder toward the road. Her eyes widen as they fall upon the bewildered child in the street. It was her, really her. That's insane! She watches the Doctor toss the paper in the bin before making his way toward her, little Peyton paying incredibly little attention to him. 

  
"So is that it?" Peyton whispers as she watches the girl fish the newspaper from the bin. 

  
"No," he hisses at her. "That toddler just threw a mechanism of space time travel in a gutter. We're going to fish it out!" 

  
"She's six," Peyton sighs, watching her past self wander down the main street, off to her bright new life.

  
The Doctor wraps his fingers around her wrist and tugs Peyton from behind the tree and toward the road. 

  
• • •

  
The Doctor shuts the Tardis doors behind him before bounding up to the console. 

  
"So that's it?" Peyton asks. 

  
"Vortex Manipulator back in U.N.I.T's hands, disabled now, don't need the humans with time travel. Locked up for good."

  
"But I was just thinking, Doctor," Peyton frowns. "How did I end up in Leadworth, why were the coordinates set there of all places?" 

  
The Doctor pauses, his hands hovering above the controls. He slowly looks to her, his expression unreadable. "Sometimes, I think there may be greater forces at work in our universe," he says. "And we'll just never know some things."


	11. The Day that They Lost Him

"So, Rio," Peyton smiles as she enters the console room, the Doctor, Amy and Rory already standing by the controls.

  
"Ah ha! Yes!" The Doctor exclaims. "Thought we'd take a break from all the running and aliens. Well, depends on your perspective."

  
Amy laughs. "There aren't any aliens in Rio, are there?"

  
"Yes, it's full of them," he looks at her strangely. "You lot."

  
"Um, we're not aliens. This is our planet," Rory frowns.

  
"That's what I said. Depends on your perspective, you're all aliens to me."

  
Peyton jumps down the stairs two at a time to meet her friends at the control deck. The Doctor smiles, a twinkle in his eye. He pulls a lever and throws the Tardis into the vortex.

  
They land and the Doctor runs to the doors, the three earthlings following closely behind him.

  
"Behold, Rio!" He throws the door open and Peyton peers outside. Definitely not Rio. It's a graveyard. Well, Peyton assumes Rio has a graveyard or two, but she is rather referring to the climate and landscape. 

  
"Nuh-uh," Amy grimaces as they all file out.

  
"Not really getting the sunshine carnival vibe," Rory says.

  
"No! Ooh, feel that though? What's that?" The Doctor closes the door behind him and walks off, looking off into the distance. He starts jumping. "Ground feels strange. Just me? Wait. That's weird."

  
"What's weird?" Peyton asks nudging the ground with her foot.

  
"Doctor, stop trying to distract us, we're in the wrong place," Amy rolls her eyes. "Doctor, it's freezing and I've dressed for Rio, we are not stopping here." The Doctor keeps walking around, Peyton isn't sure what he's doing. He bends down and inspects a patch of grass. "Doctor, are you listening to me? It's a graveyard! You promised me a beach."

  
Peyton jogs over to him to see what he's doing. "Blue grass," she notices, as she pulls at her shorts as a cold breeze passes across the hill. He nods, sniffing a few he pulled from the ground.

  
The Ponds walk over.

  
"There's patches of it all around the graves," the Doctor looks around curiously, Peyton has this dreadful feeling that they aren't going to Rio anymore. "So," he deposits it in his jacket. "Earth, 2020-ish, ten years in your future, wrong continent for Rio I'll admit, but it's not a massive overshoot."

  
"Why are those people waving at us?" Amy asks, looking across the small valley to the other side where two people wave at the four travellers.

  
"Can't be," the Doctor steps forward and whips out a pair of binoculars. "It is!" He takes another look. "It's you two."

  
"No, we're here," Rory says. "How can we be up there?"

  
"Ten years in your future, come to relive past glories, I'd imagine," he shrugs. "Humans, you're so nostalgic." He smiles at the Ponds.

  
"We're still together in ten years," Amy looks at Rory, what a lovely thing to say.

  
"No need to sound so surprised," Rory chides.

  
"Hey, let's go talk to them!" Amy suggests. "We could say hi to future us! How cool is that?"

  
"Ah, no. Best not. Really, best not," the Doctor shakes his head. "These things can get complicated very quickly, and, oh look. Big mining thing."

  
Peyton follows his gaze and sees the biggest drill she's ever seen, massive, bigger than any building in the neighbouring town.

  
"Oh, I love a big mining thing," he mumbles.

  
"Do you? Does anyone?" Peyton raises an eyebrow.

  
"See, way better than Rio, Rio doesn't have a big mining thing," he says, ignoring her snarky comment.

  
"We're not going to have a look are we?" Amy groans.

  
"Let's go and have a look," he smiles. Peyton rolls her eyes. "Come on you three, let's see what they're doing."

  
He extends his hand to Peyton and she grudgingly takes it, together they walk down the hill, the Doctor way too happy and peppy.

  
• • •

  
"Restricted access," the Doctor reads. Peyton, Amy and the Doctor have reached the big mining thing and are now faced with an iron gate, Rory had fallen behind, insisting that Amy's engagement ring stay in the Tardis. "No unauthorised personnel. Hmm."

  
He points his sonic at the padlock and with a spark, it springs open.

  
"That is breaking and entering!" Peyton hisses at him.

  
"What did I break?" The Doctor smiles cheekily. "Sonicing and entering. Totally different." He pulls the padlock off and pushes the gate open, he waves his arm to show the two girls through first.

  
Peyton heads through, wary of being caught. She notices the Doctor is still not inside yet, looking around for something. "Come on then."

  
"You sure Rory'll catch us up?" Amy looks back toward the path that they came from. 

  
• • •

  
"What about now? Can you feel it now?" The Doctor asks, still going on about the funny ground.

  
"Honestly, we've got no idea what you're on about," Peyton rolls her eyes.

  
He stops. So do the girls.

  
"The ground doesn't feel like it should," he explains walking off again.

  
"It's ten years in the future. Maybe this ground feels like it always feels," Amy sighs.

  
"Good thought, but no it doesn't," the Doctor shakes his head as a siren blares in the distance. "Hear that? Drill in start-up mode." He whips out his sonic. "After waves of a recent seismological shift. And blue grass."

  
Then he goes and puts the grass in his mouth.

  
"Oh please," Peyton cringes. "Have you always been this disgusting?"

  
"No, that's recent," he says nonchalantly. "What's in here?"

  
He ducks his head around a red door, Peyton and Amy quickly follow. The corridor has ended and they look into a large warehouse with a few excavators, computers and a very confused lady. Peyton knows that exact look. She's very used to that look. The look of 'who the eff are you'.

  
"Hello!" The Doctor says enthusiastically. Peyton does a small wave from behind him.

  
"Who are you?" She question. They make your way toward her together. "What are you doing here? And what are you two wearing?"

  
"We dressed for Rio," Amy explains their outfits.

  
"Ministry of drills, Earth and science," the Doctor explains, pulling out his psychic paper. "New ministry, quite big, just merged. There's a lot of responsibility on our shoulders. Don't like to talk about it. What are you doing?"

  
"None of your business," she snaps. The three travellers still walk over to her computer.

  
"Where are you getting these reading from?" He asks, peering at her monitor.

  
"Under the soil." That can't be right. It's just dirt and rock down there. It can't be.

  
"The drill is up and running again." A new man walks into the room, older, a little rounder too. "What's going on, who are these people?"

  
"Amy, Peyton, the Doctor," Amy introduces the group. "We're not staying, are we, Doctor?"

  
The Doctor ignores her and crouches to examine the patch of dirt in the middle of the floor, or rather, the hole in the floor. Peyton quirks an eyebrow in its direction, most people didn't have gaping holes in their floor as if a chunk of concrete had been removed.

  
"Why is there a big patch of earth in the middle of your floor?" He asks, standing up again and wiping any dirt off from his hands onto his pants.

  
"We don't know, it just appeared overnight," the woman explains.

  
"Good, right, you all need to get out of here very fast," the Doctor rushes to her computer and starts typing very fast. Peyton looks from him to Amy, watching her inspect the hole.

  
"Why?" The woman questions.

  
"What's your name?" He asks.

  
"Nasreen Chaudhry."

  
"Look at the screens Nasreen, look at your readings," he points to the computers. "It's moving."

  
"Hey, that's specialised equipment. Get away from it," the man calls, walking toward the three intruders.

  
"Wait, what's moving?" Peyton asks.

  
"Doctor," Amy calls before he can answer. "This steam, is that a good thing?"

  
Peyton whips her head around to see the hole is in fact, steaming. A small cloud hovers above the dirt, almost dancing from the slightest push of air.

  
"Shouldn't think so," he walks back over to Amy, Peyton following. "It's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting," the Doctor says.

  
"Wait, so when you said 'it's' moving, you meant, the earth?" Peyton falters.

  
The whole building shakes and she steps back from the hole instinctively.

  
"Spot on, Peyton," he claps his hands. "But how? Why?"

  
"Earthquake?" Amy suggests. Not likely.

  
"What's going on?" The man shouts.

  
"Doubt it. 'Cause it's only happening under this room." The Doctor shakes his head, running back and forth between the computers and the hole.

  
The Doctor grabs Peyton's arm and pulls her back just as a hole appears barely an inch from where she's standing, another one appears under Amy who jumps back.

  
The floor continues to open up, all five of them back up to the sides of the room.

  
"It knows we're here, it's attacking," the Doctor explains in a calm voice.

  
"What? The earth is attacking?" Peyton stares at him, her voice shaky.

  
"That's not possible," Nasreen laughs nervously.

  
"Under the circumstances, I'd suggest, run!" The Doctor's grip tightens on Peyton's wrist as he pulls her along to the exit. She hears more holes opening up and then a strangled cry for help.

  
"Tony!" Nasreen yells, Peyton turns around to see that the man has fallen into one of the holes, struggling in pain.

  
"Stay back, Amy! Stay away from the earth!" The Doctor warns. But, because she's Amy, the red-headed girl leaps toward Tony to grab his arm. She tries to pull him out before a hole opens beneath her. She screams.

  
"It's pulling me down!"

  
"Amy!" Peyton and the Doctor cry together as the two of them rush forward.

  
"Doctor, Peyton, help me! Something's got me!"

  
"Take our hands!" Peyton tells her, kneeling down beside the hole, the Doctor on his stomach, both of them holding their hands out to Amy.

  
"The ground's got my legs!" She grabs a hold of their hands and they begin to pull.

  
"We've got you!" The Doctor reassured her, putting another hand under her shoulder to help, Peyton does the same. Beside them, Nasreen manages to pull Tony from the clutches of his hole.

  
"Don't let go." Amy pants.

  
"Never," Peyton promises.

  
"Doctor, what is it and why is it doing this?"

  
"Stay calm," he instructs. "Keep hold of our hands. Don't let go. Your drill, shut it down, now!"

  
"Can you get me out?" Amy starts to panic.

  
"Amy, try to stay calm," the Doctor orders, the two of them straining to keep her above the surface. "If you struggle it will make things worse. Keep hold of our hands."

  
"We're not gonna let you go!"

  
"Ah!" Amy screams, her gripping slipping on Peyton's arm, sending Peyton and the Doctor falling back from the force. Peyton dives forward again to grab her arm, she has disappeared up to her shoulders now. "It's pulling me down! Something's pulling me!"

  
"Stay calm," Peyton grunts, closing her eyes as she pulls with all her might.

  
"Just hold on. If they can just shut down the drill," the Doctor groans.

  
"I can't hold on!" She screams. "What's pulling me? What is under the earth, I don't want to suffocate under there," she says in a scarily calm voice, like she's given up. She's sunk to her neck now. Sweat begins to break on Peyton's brow.

  
"Amy, concentrate," the Doctor doesn't reply, that means one of two things, the answer will just frighten her more, or he doesn't know himself. She doesn't say anything, gazing up at the both of them with expressionless eyes.

  
"Don't you give up!" Peyton yells at her, tears starting to form in her eyes. Amy can't, she only just saw her on the hill with Rory.

  
"Tell Rory-"

  
"Nope," Peyton shakes her head, still pulling with all her effort.

  
The force under the earth becomes stronger, Amy's head slowly disappears from her sight, Amy's tear-filled eyes the last thing Peyton registers, burned into her memory forever.

  
"Amy!" The Doctor screams beside her, raking his hands frantically in the dirt. She sits back on her heels, just staring at the hole that swallowed her best friend.

  
The Doctor pants beside her, whispering 'no' to the earth like a prayer to bring back Amelia Pond. The room stops shaking, but Amy's still gone. He didn't save her. Why didn't he save her?

  
He gets to his feet, scanning the hole with his screwdriver. Peyton pushes herself off the dirty floor and continues staring into space.

  
"Peyton, I'll, we'll get her back, I promise." She feels his hand on her shoulder blade. She shrugs it off.

  
"Where is she?"

  
Peyton turns to see Nasreen and Tony, she had barely registered them come in.

  
"She's gone," the Doctor sighs. "The ground took her."

  
• • •

  
"Is that what happened to Mo? Are they dead?" Peyton's sitting now. Time's gone a bit blurry. The Doctor sat her down in a plastic chair. Now mining people are asking stupid questions.

  
"It's not quicksand," the Doctor paces back and forth like an idiot. "She didn't just sink." Then solve it. "Something pulled her in. It wanted her." Great, do something about it.

  
"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen raises an eyebrow.

  
"You said the ground was dormant, just a patch of Earth when you first saw it this morning. And the drill had been stopped."

  
"That's right," Tony nods.

  
Peyton rolls her eyes. Where's Rory? Why is the Doctor not doing anything? Why did she get sat here like a child? Peyton stands up to prove a point. The Doctor doesn't see her anyway.

  
"But when you re-started the drill the ground fought back."

  
"So, what, the grounds wants us to stop drilling?" Nasreen questions. "Doctor, that is ridiculous." Peyton has to agree there.

  
He kneels down, scanning the dirt patch again. The ground briefly rumbles.

  
"I'm not saying that, and it's not ridiculous," he looks at his screwdriver intently. "I just don't think it's right. Oh of course!" He hits his forehead with the screwdriver. "It's bio-programming!"

  
"Doctor, we're ten years in the future," Peyton says in a monotone voice, strolling over with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "We're still decades away from that kind of tech." Nasreen and Tony give her a strange look.

  
"Never said it was you lot, Peyton, it's clever though. Using bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects. It's mainly used in engineering and construction, mostly jungle planets but that's way in the future and not here. What's it doing here?"

  
"An alien incursion?" Peyton suggests, staring toward the floor where Amy disappeared.

  
"Sorry, did you just say 'jungle planets'?" Nasreen interrupts.

  
"Perhaps, and yes."

  
"You're not making any sense, man!" Tony shakes his head.

  
"'Scuse me, I'm making perfect sense, you're just not keeping up," the Doctor says defensively.

  
"That's great, but are we going to get back to finding my friend?" Peyton interrupts. She feels the Doctor's gaze seemingly dissect her. She hates it when he does that.

  
"The earth, the ground beneath our feet," the Doctor says instead of addressing her. "It was bio-programmed to attack."

  
"Yeah, even if that was possible, which by the way, it isn't, why?" Peyton steps closer to the group.

  
"Stop you lot drilling," the Doctor suggests. "Okay, so we don't what's doing the bio-programming, we can find Amy, we can get her back. Shh, shh, shh! Have I gone mad? I've gone mad."

  
"Doctor," Nasreen tries to reason with him.

  
"Shh, shh! Silence! Absolute silence," the Doctor repeats himself.

  
"Doctor, what is it?" Peyton asks frustratedly. The Doctor steps over the hole that only minutes before swallowed a woman whole and looks around, standing very close to the three others.

  
"You stopped the drill, right?"

  
"Yes."

  
"And you've only got the once drill?"

  
"Yes."

  
"You're sure about that?"

  
"Yes!"

  
The Doctor jumps back over the hole and lowers himself to the floor, pressing an ear to the ground, listening. "So, if you shut the drill down, why can I still hear drilling?"

  
"What? I can't hear anything!" Peyton frowns.

  
"You've got your mother's ears Peyton, listen closer," he makes a hand movement, gesturing for her to get down on the dirty floor. Reluctantly, she does as she is told. The closer she gets to the floor, the louder the noise becomes a whirring, not unlike the drill.

  
"It's under the ground," she gasps.

  
"That's not possible," Tony says. Peyton gets up from the floor and brushes herself off a bit. The Doctor does the same, rushing off to scan the briefcase-computers.

  
"Oh, no, what are you doing?" Nasreen storms over.

  
"Hacking into your records," the Doctor says as he puts his sonic away. "Probe reports, samples, sensors. Good. Just unite the data, make it all one big conversation. Let's have a look." He types feverishly, bringing up multiple tabs into the screens. "So, we are here, and this, is your drill hole. Twenty-one point zero, zero, nine kilometres. Well done."

  
"Thank you, it's taken us a long time," Nasreen smiles at him.

  
"Back to the matter at hand?" Peyton clicks her fingers to get everyone's attention. She feels the Doctor's harsh gaze again.

  
"Why here though? Why did you drill on this site?" He asks.

  
"We found patches of grass in this area containing trace minerals unseen in this country for, twenty million years."

  
"The blue grass?" The Doctor asks appalled. "Oh Nasreen, those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot saying 'dig here', they were a warning. 'Stay away'. Because while you've been drilling down, somebody else has been drilling up."

  
"So definitely an alien incursion then?" Peyton says before sucking in her lips worriedly.

  
"Hold on, you keep saying that, 'alien incursion'? You don't mean-"

  
"Oh beautiful," the Doctor interrupts Nasreen as the screens show a picture of what Peyton assumes must be what's under the surface. "Network of tunnels all the way down."

  
"No, no, we've surveyed that area," Tony points to the map.

  
"You only saw what you went looking for."

  
"What are they?" She points to three moving dots, seemingly travelling up the tunnels all in a row.

  
"Heat signals. Wait, dual readings, hot and cold. Doesn't make sense. And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?"

  
"Just my daughter and her family, the rest of the staff travel in," Tony looks up to the Doctor who's looking around the room.

  
"Grab this equipment and follow me," he orders.

  
"Why? What is the plan?" Peyton calls after him as he walks away.

  
"That noise isn't a drill. It's transport. Three of them, thirty kilometres down. Rate of speed looks about one hundred and fifty kilometres an hour. Should be here in, ooh, quite soon."

  
"Twelve minutes," the math happens almost instantly in Peyton's head.

  
"Whatever bio-programmed the earth is on its way up. Now." He grabs one of the computers and walks off, Peyton follows closely behind. "Peyton, text Rory, find out where the hell he is."

  
• • •

  
"How can something be coming up, when there's only the Earth's crust down there?" Peyton asks the Doctor as they run to the church.

  
"You saw the readings!" The Doctor jumps down a small knoll.

  
"Who are you two, anyway? How can you know all this?" Nasreen calls from the back of the group, pushing the wheelbarrow over clumps of grass and rock. "Woah! Do you see that?"

  
Peyton feels a chill run up her spine. She looks up to see what looks like red lighting, fly across the sky, creating a blanket over the town

  
"No, no, no!" The Doctor groans as he looks up too. He drops his suitcase, he pulls out a slingshot he just happens to have in his jacket and picking up a small stone he shoots into the sky.

  
Peyton tries to follow the small rock as it flies away but it comes to a stop, sending a shower of red sparks instead of arching back to earth. They're in a dome. The Doctor starts scanning.

  
"Energy signals originating from under the earth, we're trapped."

  
"Doctor, something weird's going on here, the graves are eating people," Rory's voice calls from a distance. Peyton looks over at him and sees that he is with a young boy and a woman she assumes is probably his mother. Peyton did not look at his reply after she texted him, 'where are you? Meet us at the church'. They must have crossed paths.

  
"Not now, Rory," he dismisses him, still scanning the dome. "Energy barricade invisible to the naked eye. We can't get out and no one from the outside world can get in."

  
"What?" Rory asks. "Okay, what about the Tardis?"

  
"The what?" Nasreen frowns.

  
"Uh, no, those energy patterns would play havoc with the circuits, with a bit of time maybe, but we've only got nine and a half minutes."

  
"Nine and a half minutes till what?" Rory looks at his watch.

  
"No idea," Peyton shrugs. "But we're trapped and something or someone is burrowing up from the centre of the earth."

  
The Doctor looks at the reading from his screwdriver.

  
"Where's Amy?"

  
Peyton's heart drops. Both she and the Doctor look at him sadly.

  
"Get everyone inside the church," the Doctor says instead. Peyton picks up the briefcase computer and head toward the doors.

  
"Rory, I'll get her back," she hears the Doctor say, she spins on her heel and watches them.

  
"What do you mean 'get her back'? Where has she gone?" He asks worriedly.

  
"She was taken into the earth," Peyton says, Rory looks at her, eyes desperate for answers.

  
"How? Why didn't you stop it?" He asks in a small voice.

  
"We tried. I promise, we tried," the Doctor walks closer to him, Peyton sets the briefcase on the ground.

  
"Well, you should've tried harder!" He shouts in the Doctor's face, glaring at Peyton as well.

  
"I'll find Amy, both of you I swear. I'll keep the three of you safe. I promise. Come on please, I need both of you alongside me."

  
Rory doesn't say anything. Peyton feels a little guilty about being angry at the Doctor too.

  
• • •

  
"So we can't get out, we can't contact anyone, and something, the something that took my husband, is coming up through the earth." The woman whose name Peyton found out was Ambrose says frustratedly, predating the recap she just gave her.

  
"Yes, and if we move quickly enough, we'll be ready," the Doctor rushes here and there, flipping switches, pressing buttons.

  
"No, stop," she points at him accusingly. "This has gone far enough. I mean, what is this?"

  
"He's telling the truth, love," Tony says.

  
"Come on! This is not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish."

  
"Look, Ambrose, we saw the Doctor and Peyton's friend get taken okay? You saw the lightning in the sky. I have seen the impossible today," Nasreen reasons with her. "And the only person who's made any sense of it, for me, is the Doctor."

  
"Him?"

  
"Me!" He pops up like a child, Peyton fears if she told him to act his age he would lie on the floor and be no use to anyone.

  
"Can you get my dad back?" The little boy, Elliot, asks. No one says anything.

  
"Yes." The Doctor says confidently. "But I need you to trust me and do exactly what I say from this second onwards because we're running out of time. Got it?" He says the last two words directed at Peyton. She makes a conscious effort to show no sign she notices.

  
"Then tell us what to do?" Ambrose pleads.

  
"Thank you," he smiles softly at her. "We have eight minutes to set up a line of defence. Bring me every phone, every camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find. Every burglar alarm, every movement sensor, every security light. I want the whole area covered in sensors."

  
• • •

  
Peyton stands beside the Doctor, looking at the computer screen, watching the heat signals rise up the tunnels, a roll of electrical tape still in her hands from her errands with Rory, filling the area with sensors.

  
"Right guys, we need to be ready for whatever's coming up. I need a map of the village marking where the cameras are going," he turns to Elliot and pats him on the shoulder.

  
"I can't do the words, I'm dyslexic," he says.

  
"Oh that's alright I can't make a decent meringue, and Peyton doesn't know how to trust people. Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot." He winks at him and he runs off.

  
Peyton clears her throat, unimpressed.

  
"Peyton, when I say I'm going to get Amy back, I mean it. And I need you here one hundred percent trusting me," he says in a commanding voice.

  
"But what if you can't, what if she's already dead in the dirt?" Peyton argues, crossing her arms and sitting herself on a table. He walks toward her slowly, unsettling her. He stops, centimetres away from her.

  
"Peyton. Trust. Me," he says frustratedly through gritted teeth. She looks down at her watch

  
"Six minutes, forty," she says, avoiding his questions, he looks at her with a strange before dashing back to the computers to check what's happening.

  
• • •

  
"Work in quadrants, every movement sensor and trip light we've got. If anything moves, we'll know," Tony explains to Peyton and the Doctor, hovering over the computer.

  
"Good lad!" The Doctor smiles before dashing off elsewhere. He hasn't made any attempt at talking to Peyton or even looking at her since the argument, if she could call it that. She watches as he dashes out of the church again, Tony gives her a look.

  
• • •

  
Peyton helps Rory set up one of the last cameras, the church was giving her a creepy feeling, that and she was sick of being in the same room as, him. She sees the Doctor approaching and she pretends to be really interested in this rogue bit of electrical tape.

  
"How are you doing?" He addresses the both of them.

  
"It's getting darker," Rory says, looking up at the sky. Peyton does the same, it's far too early. "How can it be getting dark so quickly?"

  
"Shutting our light from within the barricade," the Doctor explains. "Trying to isolate us in the dark. Which means, it's here."

  
A rumbling sound comes from afar, shaking the ground a little.

  
"The church?" Peyton suggests, very on edge. The three run.

  
When they arrive Ambrose is at the door, pushing with all her might to get it open.

  
"I can't open it! It keeps sticking! The wood's warped," She says, still struggling with the door. The Doctor rushes forward to help her before turning back to the two companions.

  
"Anytime you want to help!"

  
"Can't you just sonic it?" Rory asks.

  
"It doesn't do wood."

  
"That really is rubbish," Peyton frowns, taking out her own sonic and looking at it.

  
"Oi! Don't diss the sonic!"

  
The door bursts open and the four rush into the room.

  
"See if we can get a fix," the Doctor says as he rushes forward to tinker with the machines. The room is still rumbling. Things fall down from the piles up against the wall, causing Peyton to jump out of the way in fear of being hit by a blue plastic chair.

  
Suddenly, with a shower of sparks, all the lights in the room go out and the computers fall dead. They all shout in shock, Tony, Nasreen and the Doctor jumping back from the computers.

  
The room is filled with nothing but heavy breathing and the squeaking of lamps hanging from the roof. The shaking has stopped. The Doctor rushes to action, causing Peyton to do the same. She runs toward the main power box on the side of the room and tries tampering with the switches.

  
"No power," she calls out. Everything is out.

  
"It's deliberate," he says pacing around again.

  
"Well, what do we do now?" Peyton asks, a little panicked. Someone flicks on a torch.

  
"Nothing! We've got nothing!" The Doctor yells through gritted teeth. "They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems."

  
"Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?" Rory's medical instincts kick in.

  
"Fine," Nasreen calls back.

  
"All good," Tony responds.

  
"Me too," Ambrose adds.

  
Another rumbling and an electronic whirring can be heard in the room. Or must be the heat signals.

  
"Doctor, what was that?" Rory asks tentatively.

  
"It's like the holes at the drill station," Tony says quietly.

  
"Is this how they happened?" Ambrose asks.

  
Peyton looks back to the Doctor who is on the floor again. "It's coming through the final layer of Earth."

  
"What is?" Nasreen whispers. The Doctor jumps to his feet and looks around the room.

  
"The banging's stopped," Tony points out. Thanks, Captain Obvious.

  
"Where Elliot?" Ambrose gasps. Peyton looks around and the little boy is nowhere to be seen. "Has, has anyone seen Elliot? Did he come in? Was he in when the door was shut? Who counted him back in? Who saw him last?"

  
"I did." Everyone turns and looks at the Time Lord who has a look of fright that Peyton has never seen before in his face.

  
"Where is he?" Ambrose walks toward him.

  
"He said he was going to get headphones."

  
"And you let him go?" She yells at him. "He was out there on his own!"

  
The Doctor opens his mouth to say something but the ancient being can form no words.

  
"Mum! Grandpa Tony! Let me in!" A muffled voice comes from outside followed by a banging at the door. Everyone rushes over and tries to get the stupid door to move.

  
"Elliot!" Ambrose yells.

  
"Let me in! Help me!"

  
"He's out there!" Ambrose screams, half relieved, and half still terrified.

  
"Open the door!" The boy keeps banging. "Mum! There's something out here!"

  
"Push Elliot! Push Elliot, give it a shove!"

  
"Come on!" The door pops open and they all get ready to pull him inside but through the darkness, Peyton can see no little boy.

  
"Where is he?" Ambrose asks. It was definitely him there just a second ago. Did the ground take him? Peyton sees no patch of dirt as the group pour out onto the steps. "He was here! Elliot!"

  
"Ambrose don't go running off!" The Doctor calls as she runs off. "Ambrose!"

  
Tony goes running after her.

  
Peyton hears her scream in the distance and she looks to the Doctor, who rushes off.

  
"So much for not running off," Peyton mumbles as she sprints after the sound of Ambrose's screams.

  
"What happened?" The Doctor yells as Ambrose embraces Tony.

  
"My dad's hurt," she yells back.

  
"Get him into the church, now!" The Doctor yells.

  
"Elliot's gone! They've killed him haven't they?" Ambrose starts crying.

  
"I don't think so," the Doctor says softly. "They've taken three people when they could've just killed them up here. There's still hope Ambrose. There is always hope."

  
"Then why have they taken him?" She wails.

  
"I don't know. I'll find Elliot, I promise. But first I need to stop this attack. Please, get inside the church."

  
She turns to Tony who is having his pulse checked by Rory and takes his hand to lead him back to the church.

  
"So what now?" Peyton looks the Doctor in the eye, stowing her anger at him away. Priorities.

  
• • •

  
Peyton sits in the dark in the back of the van. 'Wait for my signal' he said. 'You'll know it when you hear it'.

  
She and Rory listen to the tapping and quiet whistling from the Doctor outside the meals on wheels truck. The sound of their breathing is loud and echoey against the metal wall. A door opens, then closes.

  
A bang, and two separate hissing sounds. Screaming. That's probably the signal. Peyton and Rory rush out with a battle cry of screams before grabbing the creature shrouded in gas from the fire extinguisher and shoving it in the boot. Peyton scrambles backward with the Doctor and Rory slams the doors closed.

  
"We got it!" He says surprised.

  
"Defending the planet with Meals on Wheels!" The Doctor laughs, holding both hands up for the two to give him a high five. But the ground rumbles again.

  
"What was that?" Peyton asks as she steadies herself.

  
"Sounds like they're leaving," the Doctor observes.

  
"Without this one?" She frowns, pointing at the back of the van. The darkness lifts.

  
"Looks like we scared them off," Rory chuckles.

  
"I don't think so," the Doctor mutters. "Now both sides have hostages."

  
• • •

  
Peyton sits on a crumbled stone wall in the graveyard, Rory a few feet away. Both of them are thinking about Amy as they wait for the Time Lord.

  
"So, I think I've met these creatures before," the Doctor bounds around the corner. "Different branch of the species mind, but all the same. Let's see if our friend's thawed out." He opens the door to the cellar, Peyton and Rory jump up to follow him. "I don't want you two in the room. It's not an interrogation, its a conversation," he says as they travel down the stone stairs of the crypt.

  
"Are you sure?" By yourself?" Rory asks as they peer into the room.

  
"Very sure," the Doctor replies.

  
"But the sting."

  
"Venom gland takes twenty-four hours to recharge. Am I right?" He calls into the shadows of the room. "I know what I'm doing, I'll be fine." Peyton and Rory look at each other and head back up the stairs to guard the door. She's a little annoyed he didn't want her in there with him but all the same. Monsters from beneath the surface. Perhaps she'd rather just let the Doctor deal with it. That and she's still mad at him and too stubborn to give it up.

  
• • •

  
"You're gonna what?" Rory asks.

  
"I'm going to go down below the surface, Peyton, you're coming with me. I'll find the rest of the tribe and talk to them."

  
"You're gonna negotiate with these aliens?" Ambrose scoffs.

  
"They're not aliens! They're Earth... liens. Once known as the Silurian race or, as some would argue, Eocenes, or, Homo Reptilia. Not monsters, not evil. Well, only as evil as you are," the Doctor explains getting up from his chair. "The previous owners of the planet, that's all. Look, from their point of you, you're the invaders. Your drill was threatening their settlement. Now, the creature in the crypt. Her name's Alaya. She's one of their warriors, and she's my best bargaining chip. I need her alive. If she lives, so do Elliot, and Mo, and Amy. Because I will find them. While I'm gone, you four people in this church, in this corner of the planet Earth, you have to be the best of humanity."

  
"And what if they come back?" Tony asks. "Shouldn't we be dissecting this creature, dissecting it, finding its weak points?"

  
"No dissecting! No examining! We return their hostage, we return ours. Nobody gets harmed. We can land this together. If you are the best you can be. You are decent, brilliant people. Nobody dies today. Understand?"

  
• • •

  
Peyton and the Doctor walk toward the Tardis in silence. The Doctor is about to open the doors when Nasreen comes running up behind them.

  
"No, sorry, no. What are you doing?" He frowns at her.

  
"Coming with you of course," she says confidently. "What is it? Some sort of transport pod?"

  
"Sort of, but you're not coming with us."

  
"He's right, you're not," Tony says, he's there now too.

  
"I have spent all my life excavating the layers of this planet and now you want me to stand back while you head down into it? I don't think so!"

  
The Doctor looks at his watch. "I don't have time to argue!"

  
"I thought we were in a rush?"

  
"It'll be dangerous."

  
"Oh, so's crossing the road. And you're the one taking a child down there."

  
"I'm twenty-one, actually," she points out meekly but no one is listening anyway.

  
"Oh for goodness sake," he groans. "Oh alright then! Come on!" He opens the door and Peyton heads inside to the console straight away.

  
She and the Doctor share an awkward glance before looking away from each other, he fiddles with the console.

  
"Welcome aboard the Tardis. Now, don't touch anything," he says as the doors close. "Very precious."

  
"No way!" She gasps.

  
"Peyton, would you?" He asks. You roll your eyes and walk down the stairs to Nasreen.

  
"You're in a time machine, space ship, telephone box, thing," she explains.

  
"That not..." she looks around, her and Peyton walk toward the console slowly. "This is, fantastic. What else can it do?"

  
"Everything." The Doctor replies. "I'm hoping, if we're going down, that barricade won't interfere!" Peyton is knocked to the floor but she isn't too that surprised. "Did you touch something!"

  
"No! Isn't this what is does?" Nasreen replies.

  
"I'm not doing anything!" He says, stumbling to the other side of the console. "We've been hijacked, I can't stop it!"

  
Peyton pulls herself to your feet and tries to get to the Doctor.

  
"They must have sensed the electromagnetic field! They're pulling the Tardis into the earth!" He watches the coordinates on the scanner.

  
Everyone falls to the floor with a thud. They seem to have stopped. Peyton gets to her feet and scrambles to check the scanner. She can't make out what it says, most of it is in Gallifreyan.

  
The Doctor's still lying on the floor. Peyton crouches down and pulls one of his suspenders, letting it snap back on his chest.

  
"Oi!"

  
"Where are we?" She asks. That makes him jump up and run to the door. Peyton holds her hand out to help Nasreen get to her feet too. The two of them rush after him and he opens the door.

  
They find themselves in a cave, a little bit of loose dirt falls onto Peyton's head. The Doctor whistles and it echoes off the walls for quite a while. A big cave then.

  
"Looks like we fell to the bottom of their cave system," he says. "I don't suppose it was designed for handling something like this."

  
"How far down are we?" Nasreen asks.

  
"A lot more than twenty-one kilometres," Peyton guesses.

  
"So why aren't we burning alive?" She follows up.

  
"Don't know," the Doctor frowns.

  
"That's interesting," Peyton looks around, there's even some greenery in the walls

  
"It's like this is every day for you two," Nasreen laughs.

  
"Not every day, just every other day," the Doctor corrects her. The Doctor gestures for them to follow him into the system

  
• • •

  
"We're looking for a small tribal settlement. Probably housing around a dozen Homo Reptilia, maybe less, " The Doctor says as they find themselves moving through an endless maze.

  
"One small tribe?" Nasreen says from a little further back in the tunnel.

  
"Yeah." The Doctor nods, backtracking to where her voice is coming from.

  
"Maybe a dozen?" She clarifies.

  
Peyton sees her. She gazes out into an open space in the tunnel, an open space with its own light source.

  
"Ah, maybe more than a dozen," The Doctor changes his mind when he sees the massive city. "Maybe more like an entire civilisation, living beneath the earth."

• • •

"This place is enormous, and deserted," Peyton gawks as she walks down a pathway with the Doctor and Nasreen over a sea of lava, fanning her face with her hand a little.

  
"Majority of the race are probably still asleep. We need to find Amy. Peyton, look for heat signature anomalies."

  
She does as she is told, pulling out her sonic pen, holding it in front of her, she scans around the cavern, spinning on the spot as she does.

  
"But Doctor, how can this all be here?" Nasreen says as the Doctor snatches the pen from Peyton's hands to inspect the readings, she scowls at him. "I mean, these plants!"

  
They reach the end of the suspended pathway and find themselves heading into another maze of caves, the Doctor hands Peyton back her sonic which she takes grumpily, shoving it in her pocket.

  
"Must be getting closer to the centre of the city," he says.

  
"You're sure this is the best way to enter?" Peyton asks, it really seems like he wants to get caught by lizard warriors.

  
"Front door approach! Definitely. Always the best way," he replies confidently.

  
'Hostile life forms detected, area seventeen.'

  
"Apart from the back door approach, that's also good," he follows up his previous statement after hearing the alarms blare through the city. "Sometimes better."

  
Peyton and the Doctor turn to walk back the other way when the hiss of automated doors opening ahead of them causes their bodies to stiffen. They're surrounded.

  
"Doctor?" Nasreen calls as four Homo Reptilia armed with guns come through the doors. Peyton hears the footsteps of more approach from the other direction, closing the three of them in. The Doctor puts his hands in the air as a sign of surrender, Peyton doesn't know how much good it will do but she follows suit.

  
'Hostile life forms detected, area seventeen.'

  
"We're not hostile, we're not armed!" The Doctor declares, looking between the oncoming forces. "We're here in peace!" He grabs Nasreen's arm and pulls it up too. One Silurian lunges forward with a different style of gun than the rest of the approachers. A hiss of gas comes out of it and engulfs them like a cloud. Peyton starts to cough and brings a hand to her face. Her knees feel weak and she starts to fall. Peyton register that she's slowly losing consciousness and she stumbles to the floor. She feels a hand on her bicep. The Doctor. Pulling her to cushion her fall onto him.

  
• • •

  
"Argh," Peyton screams, writing against the board she is strapped to, the lasers scanning her are doing something to her body, she's not sure what it is but it's bloody painful.

  
The feminine-looking lizard says something to the surgeon one who looks unimpressed with her comment. Peyton opens her eyes and sees the Doctor writhing around as well. The lasers stop and she lays there panting, Peyton and the Doctor's eyes meet.

  
"I'm decontaminating now," the surgeon says, flipping some switches.

  
"Decontamination?" The Doctor whispers. "No, no, no!"

  
Peyton starts screaming again, kicking against the restraints, her body feels like it's being ripped apart piece by piece. She hears no screams from her left, however. Is Nasreen unaffected? Or worse, they killed her.

  
"It's alright, it won't harm you. I'm only neutralising all your ape bacteria."

  
"We're not apes! Look at the scans. Two hearts! Totally different! Totally not ape!" The Doctor screams. "Remove all human germs you remove half the things keeping me and Peyton alive!"

  
The process gets turned down and Peyton's body stops convulsing.

  
"Oh, that's much better thanks," the Doctor pants. "You okay, Peyton?" She nods, trying to get her hearts back to a healthy rhythm. "Not got any celery have you? No, no, not really the climate. Tomatoes, though, you'd do a roaring trade in those. I'm the Doctor, this is Peyton Barrett, I was lying before, she is a bit ape, oh and there's Nasreen, good."

  
"Oh, a green man," Nasreen says hazily, did Peyton and the Doctor's screaming not wake her up?

  
"Hello, who are you?" The Doctor says the feminine Silurian.

  
"Restac, Military commander," she replies.

  
"Oh, dear, really? There's always a military isn't there?"

  
"Your weapon was attacking the oxygen pockets above our city," the surgeon says.

  
"Oxygen pockets, lovely!" The Doctor smiles. "Ooh, but not so good with an impending drill. Now it makes sense."

  
"Where is the rest of your invasion force," Restac walks up the Doctor threateningly.

  
"Invasion force? Me, P, and lovely Nasreen? No! We came for the humans you took. And, to offer the safe return of Alaya. Oh, wait, you and she, what is it, same genetic source? Of course, you're worried, but don't be, she's safe."

  
"You claim to come in peace, but you hold one of us hostage," she walks away bitterly.

  
"Hey, you guys took one of us first," Peyton calls after her, voice slightly slurred from the physical trauma that just racked her body. She thinks to herself that if this was a cartoon, there would be steam coming off her and her hair would be frazzled, standing on end.

  
Restac turns and glares at Peyton furiously, she starts storming back toward her.

  
"Wait, Wait, we all want the same thing here!" The Doctor interjects, making Restac stop and glare at him instead.

  
"I don't negotiate with apes." Not an ape. "I'm going to send a clear message to those on the surface."

  
"What's that?" The Doctor asks worriedly.

  
"Your execution." 

  
Great.

  
• • •

  
"These must be the only ones awake," the Doctor whispers to Peyton and Nasreen as they are marched through the caves, into the jungle again. "The others must still be in hibernation."

  
"So why did they go into hibernation in the first place?" Peyton asks, straining against her handcuffs.

  
"Their astronomers predicted a planet heading to earth on a crash course. They built a life underground and put themselves to sleep for millennia in order to avert what they thought was the apocalypse. When in reality, it was the moon coming into alignment with the earth."

  
Restac and the others in front stop and turn to him. "How can you know that?" The surgeon asks curiously.

  
"Long time ago, I met another tribe of Homo Reptilia. Similar, but not identical."

  
"Others of our species have survived?" Restac frowns.

  
The Doctor doesn't answer for a while. "The humans attacked them, they died, I'm sorry."

  
"A vermin race," she spits. She continues the march forward, a gun nudges Peyton in the back, causing her to stumble before moving again. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Nasreen glare at the Doctor.

  
• • •

  
"You're not authorised to do this," the surgeon says to Restac as they lead their prisoners into a large room, with raised seats on either side and a long table in the middle.

  
"I'm authorised to protect the safety of our species while they sleep," she replies, looking forward but not at him.

  
"Ooh, lovely place, very gleaming," the Doctor interrupts, Peyton nudges him in the ribs.

  
"This is our court and our place of execution," Restac announces, walking to the far end of the table to face the three of them.

  
"Let them go!" An all too familiar Scottish girl walks into the room with, a gun?

  
"Amy Pond, there's a girl to rely on. See, Peyton, trust me next time," the Doctor chuckles. Peyton looks at the floor, guiltily.

  
"You've covered both ways," Amy adds, nodding to the entrance you just came through. "So don't try anything clever buster."

  
"Mo!" Nasreen exclaims. Peyton looks behind her to see a man with a gun identical to Amy's, he must have been the worker who was taken before they arrived.

  
"Now, let them go, or I'll shoot," Amy warns. Restac walks toward her menacingly. "I'm warning you!" Restac grabs the gun and pushes Amy to the ground.

  
"Don't you touch her!" The Doctor roars.

  
"And you!" Restac nods to Mo. The soldiers near him grab his weapon.

  
"Alright, Restac. You've made your point," the surgeon says rolling his eyes.

  
Restac walks toward him, Amy's gun by her side. "This is now a military tribunal. Go back to your laboratory, Malokeh."

  
A soldier nudges him in the back with a gun. "This isn't the way," he says before walking off sullenly.

  
"Prepare them for execution," Restac orders.

  
• • •

  
Apparently 'prepare them for execution' meant chaining them to a pillar. Peyton and Amy are chained to the same one, Amy facing forward, the blonde facing the other pillar where the Doctor is restrained facing forward and Nasreen faces Peyton. Mo is chained to the other side of the Doctors column.

  
"Okay, sorry," Amy calls. "As rescues go, didn't live up to its potential."

  
"I'm glad you're okay," the Doctor says calmly.

  
"Me too!" She replies, panicking a little. "Lizard men though!"

  
"Homo Reptilia, they occupied the planet before humans. Now they want it back."

  
"After they've wiped out the human race," Peyton adds.

  
"Right, preferred it when I didn't know, to be honest," she grimaces.

  
No one says anything, the soldiers, all aiming at one of their prisoners but don't make a move.

  
"Why are they waiting?" Peyton asks. "What do you think they're gonna do with us?"

  
Peyton notices the soldiers all facing them, but Restac stands by the table, facing the entranceway, the only moves she makes are the rise and falls of her shoulders as she breathes.

  
A green hologram appears in front of her. It shows a room, with three figures in the back of the frame.

  
"Who is the ape leader?" She asks. "Who speaks for the apes?"

  
The figures seem to be talking among themselves. One walks forward.

  
"I speak for the, humans. Some of us anyway." It's Rory, Peyton breathes out a sigh of relief. It's good to see his dopey face again.

  
"Do you understand who we are?" Restac asks.

  
"Sort of. A bit. Not really."

  
"We have ape hostages."

  
The camera must have zoomed out because Rory leans forward. "Doctor! Amy! Peyton!"

  
"Mo!" Ambrose rushes forward. "Mo, are you okay?"

  
"I'm fine, love! I've found Elliot. I'm bringing him home!"

  
"Amy, I thought I lost you!" Rory smiles.

  
"What? Because I was sucked into the ground? You're so clingy." This is the part where Peyton would have hit her, but alas, her hands are tied, quite literally.

  
"Tony Mack!" Nasreen yells.

  
"Having fun down there?" He chuckles.

  
"Ah, not to interrupt, but just a quick reminder to stay calm." The Doctor says.

  
"Show me Alaya." Restac orders. "Show me and release her, immediately, unharmed. Or we will kill your friends. One by one."

  
"No!" Ambrose cries.

  
"Steady now everyone," the Doctor says.

  
"Ambrose, stop it!" Tony grabs her arm.

  
"Get off me Dad! We didn't start this!"

  
"Let Rory deal with this, Ambrose, eh?"

  
"We are not doing what you say anymore," she says in a dark voice. "Now give me back my family!"

  
"No," Restac replies. "Execute the girl. The one with the orange hair."

  
"No, no wait!" Rory shouts.

  
"Rory!" Amy screams.

  
"She's not speaking for us!" He tries to get Restac's attention.

  
"There is no need for this!" The Doctor tried to reason with them.

  
"Don't touch her!" Peyton yells as a soldier unchains Amy and pushes her into the middle of the two pillars.

  
"Listen! Whatever you want, we'll do it!" Rory leans right up next to the screen.

  
"Aim." Restac orders.

  
"Rory!" Amy screams again.

  
"Don't do this!" The Doctor commands.

  
"No!" Peyton shouts. The Hologram is shut off.

  
"Fire!"

  
"STOP!" 

  
Everyone freezes and looks for the new voice in the room. A new Silurian, dressed in black, red and white robes with Malokeh following closely behind him.

  
"You want to start a war while the rest of us sleep, Restac?" He asks.

  
"The apes are attacking us!" She reasons.

  
"You're our protector Restac, not our commander. Unchain them."

  
"I do not recognise your authority at this time, Eldane," she ignores his order.

  
"Well then, you must shoot me," he shrugs. She storms up to Malokeh.

  
"You woke him to undermine me," she growls.

  
"We're not monsters, and neither are they," he replies simply.

  
"What is it about apes you love so much? Hmm?"

  
"While you slept, They've evolved. I've seen it for myself."

  
"We used to hunt apes for sport. When we came underground, they bred and polluted this planet."

  
"Shush now, Restac," Eldane ends the conversation. "Go and play soldiers. I'll let you know if I need you."

  
The soldiers begin unchaining Peyton and the other prisoners, recognising the shift of power in the room.

  
Restac walks up to him slowly "You will need me, then we'll see."

  
Peyton nods politely to the Silurian who set her free, rubbing her wrists slightly.

  
"You two okay?" The Doctor places a hand on Peyton's shoulder and one on Amy's.

  
"Yeah, fine," Peyton nods.

  
"Well, I'm alive so that's a positive," Amy laughs.

  
"Let's get the communications back up shall we," the Doctor bounds to the table and begins prodding a cube-like device. The green picture comes back.

  
"Rory! Hello!" He waves.

  
"Where's Amy?" He asks.

  
"She's fine. Look, here she is," he points to her.

  
"Oh thank God," Rory breathes a sigh of relief.

  
"Keeping you on your toes," she puts both her thumbs up, Peyton punches her lightly in the arm.

  
"No time to chat," the Doctor apologises. "Listen, you need to get down here. Go to the drill storeroom. There's a large patch of earth in the middle of the floor. The Silurians are going to send up transport discs, to bring you back down using geothermal energy and gravity bubble technology. It's how they travel and frankly, it's pretty cool. Bring Alaya, we hand her over, we can land this after all. All going to work, promise. Got to dash, hurry up!"

  
He turns off the signal.

  
Amy and Nasreen sit together on one side of the bench and Eldane, their leader apparently, sits facing them. Peyton, Mo and the Doctor, as well as Malokeh, stand to the side.

  
"I'd say you've got a fair bit to talk about," the Doctor says, leaning on the end of the table.

  
"How so?" Eldane asks.

  
"You both want the planet. You both have a genuine claim to it."

  
"Are you authorised to negotiate on behalf of humanity?" Eldane asks.

  
"Me? No! But they are!" He points to Amy and Nasreen.

  
"What?!" Nasreen goes wide-eyed.

  
"No, we're not!" Amy shakes her head.

  
"Course you are!" The Doctor smiles. "Amy Pond and Nasreen Chaudhry, speaking for the planet! Humanity couldn't have better ambassadors!" He walks around and places his hands on their shoulders, they both still look mortified. "Come on! Who has more fun than us?"

  
"Is this what happens in the future?" Amy asks, Peyton walks around the table to listen. "The planet gets shared? Is that what we need to do?"

  
"What are you talking about?" Nasreen asks, they both stand up from the bench to talk quietly with the Doctor and Peyton.

  
"Oh, Nasreen, Sorry," The Doctor apologises. "Probably worth mentioning at this stage, Amy, Peyton and I travel in time, a bit."

  
"Anything else?" The three of time travellers look at each other.

  
"There are fixed points through time, where things must always stay the way they are. This is not one of them. This is an opportunity, a temporal tipping point. Whatever happens today will change future events, create its own timeline, it's own reality. The future pivots around you. Here. Now. So do good. For humanity, and for the Earth."

  
Peyton cracks a smile at the Doctor when he finishes his speech, he catches her but she doesn't bother to look away, swallowing her pride and forgiving him.

  
"Right, no pressure there," Amy huffs, walking back to the table.

  
"We can't share the planet," Nasreen whispers, glancing over at Eldane. "Nobody on the surface is going to go for this idea. It is just too big of a leap."

  
"Come on," the Doctor encourages. "Be extraordinary."

  
"Oh, you," Nasreen groans, giving up and walking over to the table. Peyton and the Doctor chuckle amongst themselves. He leans forward on the end of the table and glances across the meeting's attendees.

  
"Okay," he taps the table. "Bringing things to order. The first meeting of representatives of the Human race and Homo Reptilia is now in session. Ha! Never said that before, that's fab! Carry on! Now, Mo, let's go get your son." He nods to the man across the room, he gestures for Peyton to come with him.

  
• • •

  
Mo leads them to where the Silurians are keeping Elliot. Peyton peers through the foggy glass to see the little boy hooked up to some machine, his eyes glassy.

  
"Elliot, there you are," the Doctor smiles. Malokeh presses the control panel a few times.

  
"If you've harmed him in any way-"

  
"Of course not!" Malokeh interrupts Mo, turning to face him. "I only store the young."

  
"But why?" Peyton asks curiously.

  
"I took samples of the young, slowed their life cycles down to a millionth of their normal rate, so I could study how they grew, what they needed, how they lived on the surface."

  
"You've been down here, working by yourself, all alone?" The Doctor raises his eyebrows.

  
"My family, through the millennia, but for the last three hundred years, just me," he explains. The Doctor smiles. "I never meant to harm your child."

  
"Malokeh, I rather love you," the Doctor gazes fondly at him. Peyton looks up at him confused. They then proceed to do a fist thing. A salute? A handshake?

  
"It's safe, we can wake him," Malokeh opens the door, the air hisses as it escapes. He walks in and detaches the cable from Elliot's face, he ushers Mo into the cramped room, Peyton and the Doctor watch from the hall.

  
"Elliot? Ell, it's Dad," Mo whispers.

  
"What? Dad!" Elliot snaps out of his trance and looks up at his father. They embrace lovingly. Peyton smiles to herself but cannot shake the tiny voice in her head. It reminds her of her dad, her human dad. She should text him, but then again, for him it's only been a few hours since he saw her. On this train of thought, she stumbles into thinking about her biological father. Would the Doctor ever take her to see him? From the way the Doctor acts whenever she brings him up, she reckons there's hardly a slim chance. She keeps these thoughts well hidden behind her smile.

  
"You're safe now," Mo smiles down at his son.

  
"But where are we?"

  
"Well, I've got to be honest with you, son, we're in the centre of the earth. And there are lizard men," Mo grimaces. Elliot doesn't say anything but looks past him to see Malokeh, Peyton and the Doctor smiling at him.

  
"Wow."

  
"Elliot, I'm sorry," the Doctor apologises. "I took my eye off you."

  
"It's okay, I forgive you," Elliot chuckles. He and the Doctor shake hands before they all file out of the cell.

  
"You go on," Malokeh says. "I'll catch up." The Doctor nods and walks down the hall with Peyton and the newly reunited father and son.

  
• • •

  
"So how'd it go?" Peyton asks Amy, sitting on the bench beside her, facing out and leaning back on the table.

  
"Ugh," she groans and leans forward to rest her head on her arms on the table. "I couldn't really understand most of what they were saying." Peyton laughs.

  
"Here they are," the Doctor says. Peyton looks toward the entrance where she sees Rory and Ambrose enter.

  
"Mum!" Elliot runs toward her who receives him with open arms.

  
"Rory!" Amy smiles, giving him finger guns.

  
"Something's wrong," the Doctor mutters. Peyton watches as Tony enters, holding something under an orange blanket. Peyton doesn't see Alaya. Or, have they just made a fatal mistake.

  
"Doctor, what is he carrying?" Amy asks worriedly. Everyone watches as Tony walks forward and places it on the floor.

  
"No," the Doctor says in disbelief. "Don't do this, tell me you didn't do this!" He crouches beside the blanket covered object and pulls it back. Peyton gasps in horror when you see the face of the Silurian, almost peaceful looking as she lay there on the stone floor. He throws the blanket back over her. "What did you do?"

  
"It was me," Ambrose admits. "I did it."

  
"Mum?" Elliot steps away from her.

  
"I just wanted you back," she placed her hands on his shoulders but he shrugs her off and walks over to his dad, leaving Ambrose alone and close to tears.

  
The Doctor turns back to Eldane. "Sorry, I didn't know. You have to believe me, they're better than this."

  
"This is our planet!" Ambrose shouts defensively.

  
"We had a chance here," the Doctor walks toward her.

  
"Leave us alone."

  
"In future, when you talk about this, you tell people there was a chance but you were so much less than the best of humanity!" He screams in her face.

  
A chorus of footsteps becomes increasingly louder, Peyton looks back to the entrance and see a group of soldiers walking into the roomed, armed and ready. Behind her, a group rush in from the back, taking positions to prevent them from leaving.

  
"My sister!" Peyton hears Restac from the front entrance walking in menacingly, she must have heard of the other's arrival. She spots the body on the floor, her pace slows and she looks down at the form. She kneels, pulling back the blanket like a curtain. She whimpers, a sound Peyton never thought she would hear from a warrior like her. "And you want us to trust these apes, Doctor?" She growls.

  
"One woman," he pleads, " She was scared for her family. She's not typical."

  
"I think she is," Restac stands suddenly, turning to Ambrose with a terrifying anger in her eyes.

  
"One person let us down, but there's a whole race of dazzling, peaceful human beings up there," the Doctor tries to explain. "You were building something here! Come on, an alliance could work."

  
"It's too late for that Doctor," Ambrose speaks up, her voice about to break.

  
"Why?" He frowns.

  
"Our drill is set to start burrowing again in fifteen minutes," she looks down at her stopwatch.

  
"What?" Peyton exclaims, getting to her feet.

  
"What choice did we have? They had Elliot," Tony sighs.

  
"Don't do this, don't call their bluff," the Doctor warns.

  
"Let us go back. And you promise to never come to the surface again," she says with a stupid confidence. "We'll walk away, leave you alone."

  
"Execute her!" Restac orders, the Silurians take aim.

  
"No!" They all scream, the Doctor rushes forward and grabs Ambrose, ducking down before the bullets? Lasers? Before they were killed by angry lizard people.

  
"Everybody, back to the lab, run!" The Doctor orders, Peyton grabs Amy's arm and pulls her toward the Doctor

  
"Execute all the apes!" Restac yells. Lasers fire and Peyton ducks around them.

  
"This is a deadly weapon, stay back!" The Doctor warns holding up his sonic screwdriver. Three of the Silurians guns blow up. "Peyton!"

  
She makes sure Amy runs through before whipping out her sonic. She points it at a nearby Silurian and thinks 'explode', and their gun does just that. In a shower of sparks, the gun flies from its hands and it jumps back. Peyton feels the Doctor grab her wrist and he pulls her into the tunnels.

  
Peyton runs as fast as she can, the Doctor bringing up the rear. Lasers hit the walls beside them causing rubble to fall on the path and a fire to explode off the walls.

  
"Take everyone to the lab!" He yells to Eldane who is near the front of the runaway procession. "I'll cover you! Go! Go!" The Doctor turns and pulls his sonic screwdriver. Peyton stops too.

  
"Peyton," he warns.

  
"How about you trust me?" She smiles cheekily up at him as she takes a defensive position. He smiles at her for a second before the Silurians get too close. They both take out the first two's guns together. Restac herself rushes forward.

  
"Stop right there!" Peyton yells in her most intimidating voice. "Or we'll use our very deadly weapons again."

  
"One warning, that's all you get," the Doctor follows up. "If there can be no deal, you go back into hibernation. All of you, now!" His other hand grabs Peyton's and starts to slowly pull her back with their sonics still raised and ready. "This ends here."

  
"No!" Restac yells. "It only ends with our victory!"

  
"Like he said," Peyton raises an eyebrow. "One warning."

  
The Doctor looks at Peyton and together they disarm the other two soldiers before turning to run after the others.

  
They reach the lab and the Doctor seals the door. "Elliot, you and your Dad keep your eyes on that screen, let me know if we get company," he instructs.

  
"Amy, keep reminding me how much time I haven't got," he takes Ambrose's stopwatch and chucks it to her. "Peyton, come help me with this."

  
"Okay, uh, twelve and a half minutes till drill impact," Amy reports.

  
"Tony Mack, sweaty forehead, dilated pupils, what're you hiding?" The Doctor studies him suspiciously.

  
Peyton peers at him from beside the Doctor as he undoes the top two buttons of his shirt revealing a green pattern on his chest like a spider's web.

  
"Tony!" Nasreen gasps. "What happened?"

  
"Alaya's sting," Tony says as the Doctor presses his screwdriver to the infection. "She said there's no cure. I'm dying, aren't I?"

  
"You're not dying, you're mutating," the Doctor shakes his head, reading his sonic's signals.

  
"How can I stop it?"

  
"Decontamination program! Might work, don't know," he suggests. "Eldane, can you run the program on Tony?"

  
"Doctor! Shedload of those creatures coming our way!" Mo calls, watching the monitor. "We're surrounded in here."

  
"So, question is, how do we stop the drill, given that we can't get there in time? Plus, also, how do we get out given that we're surrounded? Nasreen, how d'you feel about an energy pulse, channelled up, through the tunnels to the base of the drill?" The Doctor asks.

  
"To blow up my life's work?"

  
"Yes. Sorry, no nice way of putting that."

  
"Right, well. You're going to have to do it before the drill hits the city in-"

  
"Eleven minutes, forty seconds," Amy groans, trying to get the Doctor to hurry up.

  
"Yes! Squeaky bum time!"

  
"Yes, but the explosion is going to cave in all the surrounding tunnels," Peyton points out. "So we have to be on the surface by then."

  
"But, we can't get past Restac's troops," Rory reminds her.

  
"I can help with that," Eldane says. They all turn to look at him across the room. "Toxic fumigation. An emergency failsafe meant to protect my species from infection, a warning signal to occupy cryo-chambers. After that, citywide fumigation by toxic gas. Then the city shuts down."

  
"You could end up killing your own people," Amy steps forward.

  
"Only those foolish enough to follow Restac."

  
"Eldane, are you sure about this?" The Doctor clarifies.

  
"My priority is my race's survival. The earth isn't ready for us to return yet."

  
"No."

  
"Ten minutes, Doctor," Amy reminds him.

  
"But maybe it should be. So here's a deal. Everybody listening. Eldane, you activate shutdown. I'll amend the system, set your alarm for a thousand years time. One thousand years to sort the planet out. To be ready, pass it on. As legend or prophecy or religion, but somehow make it known. This planet is to be shared."

  
"Yeah, I get you," Elliot nods.

  
"Nine minutes, seven seconds."

  
"Yes, fluid controls, my favourite!" The Doctor says giddily as he begins pressing buttons on the panel. "Energy pulse timed, primed and set. Before we go, energy barricade, need to cancel it out quickly." He points his sonic at the screen.

  
"Fumigation, pre-launching," Eldane notes.

  
"There's not much time for us to get from here to the surface Doctor," Rory reminds him.

  
"Ah-ha, super squeaky bum time!" He laughs. "Get ready to run for your lives. Now-"

  
"But the decontamination process on your friend hasn't started yet," Eldane interrupts.

  
"Well go!" Tony waves. "All of you, go!"

  
"No, we're not leaving you here!" Ambrose pleads.

  
"Granddad!" Elliot runs up to him and hugs him.

  
"Eight minutes, ten seconds."

  
"Now, you look after your mum," Tony smiles down at him. "You mustn't blame her. She only did what she thought was right."

  
"I'm not gonna see you again, am I?" Elliot says sadly.

  
"I'll be here," Tony taps his chest. "Always. I love you, boy." They embrace again. "You be sure he gets home safe."

  
"This is my fault," Ambrose sobs.

  
"No, I can't go back up there. I'd be a freak show. The technology down here's my only hope." Tony hugs his daughter tightly. Peyton is eager to leave.

  
"I love you, Dad."

  
"Go. Go!"

  
Eldane starts the process.

  
'Toxic fumigation initiated please return to Cryo-chambers.'

  
"They're going! We're clear!" Amy calls, watching the Silurians run away on the monitor. The room glows green with the warning light which Peyton finds mildly irritating.

  
"Okay, everyone follow Peyton!" The Doctor orders. "Look for a blue box, get ready to run." He opens the doors and turns to speak to Eldane.

  
"I'm sorry," he apologises one last time.

  
"I thought for a moment, our race, and the humans..."

  
"Yeah, me too," the Doctor sighs.

  
"Doctor! We've got less than six minutes."

  
"Go! Go! I'm right behind you!" Peyton does as she's told and leads the group through the tunnels as best as she can remember, back to the Tardis.

  
• • •

  
"No questions, just get in!" The Doctor orders, getting out the key to the Tardis. "And yes, I know, it's big! Ambrose, sickbay up the stairs, left, then left again, get yourself fixed up. Come on!" He calls to Peyton, Amy and Rory who fell to the rear when Amy turned back to look for the Doctor. "Five minutes and count-" he turns, Peyton follows his gaze. It's here. Again. The crack, following them through time and space. 

  
"Not here, not now. It's getting wider," the Doctor says.

  
"I doubt the smoke is good either," Peyton gulps.

  
"The crack on my bedroom wall."

  
"Here, and the Byzantium. All through the universe, rips in the continuum." the Doctor crouches next to it, careful not to touch the light. "Some sort of space-time cataclysm, an explosion maybe. Big enough to put cracks in the universe. But what?"

  
"Four minutes, fifty, we have to go!"

  
"The angels laughed when I didn't know, Prisoner Zero knew. Everybody knows, except me!"

  
"Doctor, just leave it!" Peyton yells at him.

  
"But where there's an explosion," he pulls something, a cloth out of his jacket. "There's shrapnel."

  
"Doctor, you can't put your hand in there!" Rory reasons with him.

  
"Why not?" He reaches in and Peyton watches, gritting her teeth as he screams in pain. "I've got something!"

  
"What is it?" She asks. He pulls himself away and looks at the piece, wrapped up in the red cloth.

  
"I don't know."

  
"Doctor!" Rory warns, Peyton looks to the tunnel entrance to see Restac, dragging herself across the floor. The Doctor jumps to his feet.

  
"She was there when the gas started, she must have been poisoned," Amy says.

  
"You!" The Silurian yells.

  
"Okay, get in the Tardis the three of you," the Doctor says, pulling out his sonic.

  
"You did this!" Before he can disable it, her gun she shoots.

  
"Doctor!" Rory charges into the Doctor, pushing him out of the way, getting hit in the chest with the laser instead.

  
"Rory!" Peyton and Amy scream, dropping to his side. Rory pants in pain and Peyton feels powerless watching her childhood friend writing around on the dirt floor.

  
"Rory, can you hear me?" The Doctor yells, trying to sonic him.

  
"I don't understand," Rory whimpers. Amy shushes him, placing her hands on both sides of his face, Peyton grabs a fistful of his shirt over his chest.

  
"Don't talk," she instructs her fiancé. "Doctor, is he okay? We have to get him into the Tardis!"

  
"We were on the hill, I can't die here," he says in a small voice. Peyton feels her eyes tear up and the words of the Doctor echo in her head. Time can be rewritten. Oh please, no. 

  
"Don't say that," Amy chokes, Peyton looks to the Doctor who is just sitting back on his heels helplessly. Not looking at all like an ancient and powerful being, but simply a man, watching his friend die.

  
"You're so beautiful," he tries to smile but he can't muster the muscle strength. "I'm sorry," he convulses in pain.

  
"No, no, no," Peyton whispers under her breath. His breathing relaxes, and slowly, she feels his chest cease to rise under her hand. Peyton pulls herself away, the beginnings of hyperventilation rising in her chest. This can't be happening. She can't lose him. Amy can't lose him. 

  
"Doctor, help him," Amy says quietly.

  
"Amy, Peyton, move away from the light," he gets to his feet. Peyton looks at the time energy creeping toward her. She rubs her eyes on the outsides of her wrists and pushes herself to her feet. "If it touches you, you'll be wiped from history. Amy, move away now."

  
Peyton and the Doctor back up to the Tardis, she still stares sadly down at Rory's body.

  
"We can't leave him here, Doctor," Peyton pleads.

  
"If any of us come into contact with the light we won't have existed, it's too high a risk."

  
"No! I am not leaving him! We have to help him!" Amy screams.

  
"The light's already around him, we can't help him," the Doctor explains, grabbing her shoulders.

  
"I am not leaving him!"

  
"We have to."

  
"No!"

  
"I'm sorry," he grabs her by the torso with one arm and under the armpit with another.

  
"Get off me!" She thrashes in his arms. Peyton opens the Tardis door, unable to look at Rory any longer. He throws her into the Tardis after Peyton and seals the door with his sonic.

  
"No! No! No!" She pounds her fists on the doors. Peyton watches her struggle as the Doctor walks up to the console.

  
"Let me out, please let me out. I need to get to Rory!" She pleads. "That light," she watches Rory on the wall monitor. "If his body's absorbed I'll forget him. He'll never have existed. You can't let that happen." She turns to face him, slowly and forlornly get the Tardis ready to fly. "What are you doing!" She runs up to him. "Doctor! No!"

  
She tries to pull his hands off the console but it's too late. He wraps her in his arms, one hand behind her head and the other on her back.

  
"Doctor we can't just leave him there!" Peyton tries to reason with him as Amy incoherently screams and thrashes in his arms. She jogs up to the flight deck next to them.

  
"Keep him in your minds. Don't forget him," he orders. "If you forget him, you'll lose him forever."

  
Peyton thinks about all her favourite memories with Rory. Hanging out after school, playing Raggedy Doctor in Amy's backyard, eating ice cream in the park, the sleepovers, the wedding planning, everything.

  
"On the Byzantium, I still remembered the clerics because we're time traveller, now you said-"

  
"They weren't part of your world," The Doctor places his hands on either side of the hysterical Amy's face. "This is different, this is your own history changing, both of you."

  
"Tell me it's going to be okay, you have to make it okay," Amy sobs, Peyton leans against the railing, her eyes squeezed shut, otherwise she wouldn't be able to stop the tears. With Amy it was different. There was the slimmest hope she clung to that somehow she was alive. But Peyton felt Rory's heart stop beneath her fingertips, she saw his final breath.

  
"It's going to be hard, but you can do it, Amy. Tell me about Rory. Fantastic Rory, funny Rory, gorgeous Rory." He walks her around the console and sits her in the chair. Peyton walks around to them slowly, still gripping the rail. "Amy listen to me. Do exactly as I say. Amy, please keep concentrating. You can do this. You too, Peyton, do not forget him."

  
"I can't," Amy whimpers.

  
"You can," he encourages her. "You can do it. I can't help you unless you do. Come on, we can still save his memory. Come on Amy, please. Don't let anything distract you. Remember Rory, Rory is only alive in your memory. You must keep hold of him."

  
Peyton recounts every birthday party, every school dance, every long weekend, every night out in her head. She doesn't know if it's enough. She thinks about every joke, every mishap, every scraped knee and every tipsy adventure. His dopey face, engraved across her childhood. One of her very first friends. 

  
She remembers the school dance in year ten. Rory had asked Amy if she wanted to go with him the day before and she laughed him off, thinking it was a joke. Peyton had comforted him, she took him to the corner store with her meagre allowance and bought them icecreams and told him that she would go with him to the dance. She was originally not going to go. Mels' parents were out and the three girls were going to hang out at her place for the evening. So, off they went to Peyton's house. Her mum pulled out one of her old ruby party dresses from her wardrobe and with a little bit of expert work, it fit her wonderfully. They even found a tie in her dad's collection that matched almost perfectly for Rory to borrow. 

  
The next night Peyton and Rory showed up to the dance together and had a brilliant time, neither were any good at dancing but they laughed until their ribs hurt up until Rory's parents dropped Peyton back at her house and she waved goodbye to him on her driveway as the Williams' drove off back home. 

  
That was one of Peyton's favourite memories of Rory. Now she'll never get to dance with him again. 

  
The Tardis shakes and they are all thrown to the floor. Peyton sits up and looks at the Doctor, then Amy who does the same. She watches as the Doctor picks up the red velvet box. Amy's ring's box. That can't be there. He's erased. But Peyton remembers him. The memories aren't strained and fading like they were a few seconds ago. Like someone threw a stone in a lake but now the water has settled. They lock eyes.

  
"What were you saying?" Amy asks chirpily as if she hadn't just been sobbing and screaming. Peyton looks at her sadly. She forgot. How could she forget? She seems to notice Peyton and the Doctor's looks of despair. She pulls herself up.

  
"I have seen some things today, but this is beyond mad."

  
Peyton had forgotten they were here. She looks at the top of the staircase where Mo, Ambrose and Elliot stand.

  
"Doctor, five seconds till it all goes up," Amy picks the stopwatch off the floor. They all scramble up and out of the Tardis just in time to see the giant explosion from the hill where they initially landed.

  
• • •

  
"You two have been awfully quiet," Amy comments as they head back to the Tardis after saying their goodbyes. "Oh look, it's me again, hello me!" She shouts across the valley. Sure enough, there is only one figure, the one that was supposed to be there at her side, erased from time and space.

  
"Are you okay?" Peyton asks when her face suddenly becomes really sad.

  
"I thought I saw someone else there for a second." She pauses. "I need a holiday. Didn't we talk about Rio?"

  
"You go in," he says as he unlocks the door. "We'll just fix this lock, keeps jamming."

  
"You aliens and your locksmithery," she winks as she heads inside.

  
"You remember then?" The Time Lord looks at Peyton as she leans against the Time machine, looking into the distance where the figure of future Amy Pond walks away from view.

  
"Yes. It hurts, makes me wish I did forget."

  
"No, hurting is good. Hurting is human." Peyton looks at him, ready to make a sarcastic comment about she's not really that human but she just doesn't have the energy right now. "Your father, he didn't feel the sting of loss. He burned planets for fun. It's a good thing for you to be more human sometimes," he explains himself. Peyton looks back over the valley at the trees. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees him pull the clothed shrapnel from his pocket. She watches as he delicately unwraps it. He reveals a burnt but white wooden surface with black writing on it.

  
Peyton stops leaning on the Tardis as he holds it up to the instructions panel on the door. They look at each other with an expression of horror when they see that it is a perfect match.


	12. The Day they Inspired Van Gogh

Peyton walks around the Musée d'Orsay, clutching a pamphlet in her hands and looking up at all these beautiful paintings. It had been a week or so since Rory died. The reality still hasn't set in. The Doctor had tried to talk about it with her but it wasn't often when the two of them could have any time alone without Amy. 

  
"Peyton, Doctor!" Amy waves them over and into the Van Gogh exhibit. It's crowded. Lots of people mill about, trying to get a look at the paintings. A tour guide lectures a crowd about painting as Peyton moves through the exhibit.

  
"Thanks for bringing me," Amy hits the Doctor with the end of her scarf.

  
"You're welcome," he shrugs. Ever since Amy lost her memories of Rory, the two Time Lord have been grieving, life, for Peyton, perhaps not the Doctor, will never be the same.

  
"You're being so nice to me, why?" Amy questions as Peyton and the Doctor move to look at the paintings.

  
"I'm always nice to you," the Doctor frowns, clearly offended.

  
Amy laughs. "Not like this. These places you're taking me, Arcadia, the Trojan Gardens, now this. I think it's suspicious."

  
"What? It's not. There's nothing to be suspicious about," Peyton says very quickly.

  
"Okay, I was joking. Why aren't you?"

  
The Doctor pretends to be very interested in the tour guide while Peyton walks off toward the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit. It hurts that she doesn't hurt. It hurts that Peyton has to grieve alone. She can't even go home and have a proper funeral for him. His parents don't know he ever existed. 

  
Peyton comes across a church, a painting of a church obviously. She peers at it, something is definitely not right. "Doctor, Amy?" She calls.

  
"Look there it is, the actual one!" Amy squeals as she sees the painting her best friend is looking at, she bounds over with the Doctor in tow. She holds an image in her pamphlet up beside it, admiring the picture.

  
"Yes," the Doctor smiles. "You can almost feel his hand painting it right in front of you, carving the colours into shapes."

  
"But, look," Peyton gets their attention. "In the window."

  
"Well spotted, Peyton" the Doctor rests a hand on her shoulder, his eyes fixed on the painting.

  
"What?" Amy says, still confused.

  
"Something not good?" Peyton mumbles, studying the dark shape.

  
"Something very not good indeed," the Doctor adds.

  
"What thing very not good?"

  
"Look there, in the window of the church," he instructs.

  
"Is it a face?" She whispers horrified.

  
"Yes. And not a nice face. I know evil when I see it and I see it in that window," the Time Lord mutters. He turns and walks to the centre of the room, Peyton and Amy are quick to catch up.

  
"Excuse me, if I could just interrupt for one second. Sorry, everyone. Uh, routine inspection ministry of art and, artiness," he says flashing his psychic paper to the tour group and guide. "So, um..."

  
"Doctor Black," the tour guide nods.

  
"That's right. Do you know when that picture of the church was painted?"

  
"Ah, well. Ah, what an interesting question. Most people imagine-"

  
"I'm going to have to hurry you. When was it?"

  
"Exactly?"

  
"As exactly as you can without a long speech if possible. I'm in a hurry."

  
"Well, in that case, probably somewhere between the first and third of June."

  
"What year?"

  
"1890. Less than a year before, before he killed himself."

  
"Thank you, sir," The Doctor nods. "Very helpful indeed. Nice bow-tie."

  
"Thanks."

  
"Bow-ties are cool," he turns back to look at the two girls smugly. Peyton shakes her head and folds her arms.

  
"Yours is very-"

  
"Oh thank you. I mean, keep telling them stuff. We need to go."

  
He grabs Amy's hand who grabs Peyton's.

  
"What about the other pictures?" Amy complains as they are dragged out of the exhibit.

  
"No, art can wait. This is life and death," he pulls them both forward sharply and pushes them ahead of him. "We need to talk to Vincent Van Gogh."

  
• • •

  
The three travellers file out of the Tardis into a back alley of Provence.

  
"Right so, here's the plan. We find Vincent, and he leads us straight to the church and our nasty friend," the Doctor heads off with Peyton and Amy behind him.

  
"Easy peasy," Peyton smiles, admiring the buildings around her and the light sounds of evening chatter in the air.

  
"Well, no. I suspect nothing will be easy with Mr Van Gogh," he sighs. "Now, he'll probably be in the local cafe, sort of orangey light, chairs and tables outside."

  
"Like this?" Amy opens her tour book to a picture of a café Vincent painted.

  
"That's the one."

  
"You mean, like that?" Peyton points straight ahead to a café with a striking similarity to the Van Gogh painting Amy holds in her hands.

  
"Yes," the Doctor smiles. Amy giggles. "Exactly like that."

  
The three of them walk up to a man wearing a nice suit and a very 'in charge' look on his face.

  
"Good evening," The Doctor nods politely. "Does the name Vincent Van Gogh ring a bell?"

  
"Don't mention that to me," the man scoffs, quickly turning on his heel and heading inside the café.

  
"Excuse me," the Doctor says to himself sarcastically, watching him walk inside.

  
Peyton turns to a maid, hunched over a table with a rag and lean on a chair to talk to her. "Do you know Vincent Van Gogh?"

  
"Ugh, unfortunately."

  
"Unfortunately?" Amy repeats unimpressed.

  
"He's drunk, he's mad, and he never pays his bills," the maid explains with an exasperated look in her eyes.

  
"Good painter though, eh?" The Doctor stands beside Peyton. The maid and her friend burst into laughter. Peyton sort of gets what they're getting into at this point.

  
Peyton and the Doctor fall into seats at a table as they hear a commotion inside.

  
"Come on, come on! One painting for one drink. That's, that's not a bad deal!" A man inside groans.

  
"It wouldn't be a bad deal if the painting were any good," the café's owner walks out with a man Peyton recognise and immediately sits up straighter.

  
The Doctor taps Peyton on the shoulder repeatedly with a stupid grin on his face, pointing at arguably the most well-known painter of history.

  
"I can't hang that up on my walls, it'd scare the customers half to death," the owner tries to explain to Vincent. "It's bad enough having you here in person, let alone looming over the customers day and night in a stupid hat. You pay money or you get out."

  
"I'll pay if you like," the Doctor offers.

  
"What?" The owner says dumbfounded.

  
"Well, if you like, I'll pay for the drink," The Doctor repeats himself. "Or I'll pay for the painting, and you can use the money to pay for the drink."

  
"Exactly who are you?" Vincent speaks, looking down toward the Doctor.

  
"We're, new in town," he shrugs.

  
"Well, in that case, you don't know three things," Vincent smiles cynically. "One, I pay for my own drinks, thank you."

  
Everyone in the vicinity laughs.

  
"Two, no one ever buys any of my paintings, or they would be laughed out of town. So if you want to stay in town, I suggest you keep your cash to yourself. And three, your friend over there is cute," he points behind him to Amy. "But you should keep your big nose out of other peoples business. Now come on," he turns to the owner. "Just one more drink, I'll pay tomorrow."

  
"No."

  
"Or on the other hand, slightly more compassionately, yes?"

  
"Or, on the other hand, to protect my business from madmen, no."

  
"Or-"

  
"Oh just shut up the pair of you!" Amy cuts off Vincent's retort. Peyton and the Doctor chuckle quietly. "I would like a bottle of wine, please, which I will then share with whomever I choose," she smiles sweetly at the painter.

  
"That could be good," Vincent grins.

  
"That's good by me," the owner gives up and heads back inside to fetch some wine with Amy. But before going too far, he thrusts Vincent's portrait back at him.

  
• • •

  
"That accent of yours. You from Holland like me?" Vincent asks Amy who sits beside him. Peyton sits opposite the red-haired girl next to the Doctor.

  
"No."

  
"Yes," The Doctor corrects her. "She means yes. So, start again. Hello, I'm the Doctor."

  
"I knew it," Vincent scowls.

  
"Sorry?"

  
"My brother's always sending Doctors, but you won't be able to help."

  
"Oh no, not that kind of Doctor," he chuckles.

  
"I'm Peyton, by the way. And that's incredible, don't you think?" Peyton quickly changes the subject, pointing at the painting that sits beside Vincent's seat.

  
"Absolutely. One of my favourites," Amy beams.

  
"One of my favourite what's?" Vincent asks accusingly. "You've never seen my work before."

  
"Ah, yes," Amy recovers with her 'making up a clever lie' face. "One of my favourite paintings that I've ever seen. Generally."

  
"Then you can't have seen many paintings then," Vincent looks at the artwork disdainfully. "I know it's terrible. It's the best I could do."

  
He puts it down and leans on the table, looking at Amy strangely. "Your hair is orange."

  
Amy leans closer to him to replies, "Yes, so is yours."

  
"Yes. It was more orange, but now is, of course, less."

  
Peyton and the Doctor share a look of confusion upon hearing Vincent's odd flirting tactics.

  
"Uh, So, um, Vincent. Painted any churches lately?" The Doctor interrupts the strange conversation. "Any churchy plans? Are churches, chapels, religiously stuff like that something you'd like to get into? You know, fairly soon?"

  
"Well, there is one church I'm thinking of painting when the weather is right."

  
"That's good news. Anything weird or strange ever happen there?" Peyton smiles sweetly with her elbows on the table, resting her head on her knuckles.

  
Vincent gives her a confused frown before a woman screams, breaking up their conversation. "Help me!"

  
"That, on the other hand. Isn't quite such good news," the Doctor grimaces. He grabs Peyton's hand and she gets to her feet with him. "Come on Amy, Vincent!"

  
Peyton and the Doctor run side by side, following the sound of screams and people running about.

  
"She's been ripped to shreds!" One man yells.

  
"Oh no!" A woman sobs.

  
"Please! Please, let me look. I'm a Doctor!" The Time Lord rushes forward to the body lying on the pebbled street. "Oh no, no, no, no, no."

  
"Away all of you vultures," a woman spits. "This is my daughter. Giselle! What monster could have done this?"

  
Peyton and Amy stand together, looking down at the young girl, sprawled on the pavement. The Doctor is crouched by her side trying to inspect her horrific wounds.

  
"Get away from her!" The woman screams at the Doctor and Vincent. "Get that madman out of here!" She throws a small stone at Vincent's head. The Doctor pulls himself and Vincent to their feet and they, along with Peyton and Amy, retreat to the sounds of yelling. "It's your fault! You bring this on us! Your madness! You!"

  
The four run down the alleys till they can barely hear the outraged crowd. Peyton leans against a brick wall, panting next to Amy.

  
"Are you alright?" The Doctor asks Vincent.

  
"Yes, I'm used to it."

  
"Has anything like this murder happened here before?" The Doctor asks as he stands up straight again.

  
"Only a week ago," Vincent shakes his head sorrowfully. "It's a terrible time."

  
"As I thought. As. I. Thought. Come on, we'd better get you home."

  
"Where are you staying tonight?"

  
"Oh, you're very kind," The Doctor smiles. 

  
• • •

  
"Dark night, very starry," Peyton observes as they approach Vincent's house.

  
"It's not much, I live on my own. You should be okay for one night. One night."

  
"We're going to stay with him?" Amy whispers excitedly.

  
"Until he paints that church," the Doctor whispers back.

  
Vincent lights a lamp and places his hat on a hook. "Watch out, that one's wet."

  
"Huh," Peyton frowns until she sees the painting of Vincent's bedroom hung on the wall.

  
"Sorry about all the clutter," Vincent lights another lamp inside.

  
"Some clutter," the Doctor looks around the room filled with paintings and random knick-knacks.

  
"I've come to accept the only person who's going to love my paintings is me," he shrugs. Peyton walks from painting to painting, admiring them. A few she has never seen before. Perhaps they were lost to time, or maybe painted over. What a loss.

  
"Wow, I mean really, wow," Amy smiles as she does the same.

  
"Yeah, I know, it's a mess. I'll have a proper clear-out, I must, I really must. Coffee anyone?"

  
• • •

  
"Right so, this church, then. Near here, is it?" The Doctor asks as they pile into the kitchen.

  
"What is it with you and the church?" Vincent frowns, taking a log of firewood to put under the stove.

  
"Oh, just casually interested in it, you know?" The Doctor shrugs.

  
"Far from casual," Vincent chuckles. Peyton rolls her eyes and slaps Amy's hand away from one of Vincent's paintings. "Seems to me, you never talk about anything else. He's a strange one."

  
Peyton nods in agreement and leaves Amy with the portraits to join in the conversation between Vincent and the Doctor.

  
"Okay, so let's talk about you, then, what are you interested in?" The Doctor asks.

  
"Well, look around!" Vincent gestures to the room. "Art. It seems to me there's so much more to the world than the average eye is allowed to see. I believe, if you look hard, there are more wonders in this universe than you could ever have dreamed of."

  
Peyton smiles to herself and feels Amy's arm brush against her own. The wonders of the universe, huh?

  
"You don't have to tell me," the Doctor says as he wraps an arm around Peyton's shoulders.

  
• • •

  
In the oddest sense, Amy's piercing scream was incredibly relieving as Vincent's rant about colours and the universe abruptly halted.

  
Peyton and the Doctor get to their feet and sprint outside where Amy had wandered off to look at more paintings.

  
"Amy? Amy!" Peyton yells as she sees her best friend on her knees in the dirt, panting heavily.

  
"What happened?" The Doctor rushed to her side and looks around frantically.

  
"I don't know, I didn't see," says Amy as Peyton crouches beside her and wraps an arm around her waist to help her up. "I was just having a look at some of the paintings out here when something hit me from behind."

  
"It's okay. He's gone now, and we're here," Peyton comforts her.

  
"Ahh! No!" Vincent screams.

  
"Take it easy. Take it easy!" The Doctor holds his hands out toward the artist cautiously.

  
Vincent seems to be looking beyond the Doctor, utter fear in his eyes and holding his own hands in front of him.

  
"What's happening? What's he doing?" Amy asks, worry clear in her voice.

  
"I don't know." The Doctor ushers both of the girls behind him. Meanwhile, Vincent picks up a pitchfork and begins waving it threateningly.

  
"No!" He shrieks.

  
"Oh dear," the Doctor frowns.

  
"Ahh!" Vincent charges toward the three travellers and, forcing Peyton to grab Amy's hand and jump out of the way. The Doctor jumps the other way but Vincent keeps charging along his path.

  
"Run, run!" Vincent yells.

  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's not a bad idea," the Doctor runs toward Peyton and Amy, pulling them back toward the cottage. "Peyton, Amy, get back. He's having some kind of fit!"

  
Peyton decides that it's for the best that she wait this one out. A depressed painter with a pointy weapon, no thanks.

  
"I'll try to calm him down!" The Doctor runs back toward the painter who seems to be jabbing the pitchfork into the air. "Easy, Vincent, easy. Look, look. It's me, it's me, it's me. It's the Doctor, look," he held his hands above his head. "No one else is here. So, Vincent-"

  
"Look out!" Vincent yells. The Doctor is knocked off his feet from behind and a painting in front of Peyton is slashed down the middle.

  
"I can't see anything, what is it?" She calls out to the Doctor, very concerned.

  
"That is a good question?" The Doctor jumps to his feet as Vincent resumes stabbing the air.

  
He grabs a large stick from the ground. "Let me help you!" The Doctor stands next to Vincent, facing the same way he is and imitating his movements.

  
"You can see him too?"

  
"Uh, yes, ish." The Doctor lies. He runs off to a corner of the garden, thrashing his stick wildly. "Well, no. Not really."

  
The Doctor is thrown back yet again and Peyton cringes as he hits the ground with a thud.

  
"You couldn't see him?" Vincent says exasperatedly

  
"No, no. Oi!" The Doctor jumps to his feet and starts swinging his stick through the air erratically, his attempt on revenge Peyton guesses.

  
Vincent thrusts his pitchfork up and if Peyton squints really hard she could imagine its prongs lodged inside the shoulder of some great beast. He struggles for a second before he falls forward, running and grunting. A scarecrow falls over, or perhaps is knocked over.

  
The Doctor is still locked in a fierce battle with absolutely nothing before Vincent speaks up, "He's gone."

  
"Oh, right," the Doctor turns to face the others, leaning on the stick like a walking cane. "Yes, of course."

  
• • •

  
"So, he's invisible?" Peyton asks as she, the Doctor, Amy Pond and Vincent Van Gogh pile into the latter's sitting room.

  
"What does he look like?" The Doctor takes a seat in the wooden rocking chair.

  
"I'll show you," Vincent grabs the nearest painting to him and a paintbrush. He places it on his workbench and loads the brush with white paint, erasing the painting of the flower vase.

  
"No, no, no!" The Doctor cried. Peyton and Amy both gasp in shock.

  
"What?" Vincent asks, a little annoyed.

  
"It's just, um. That was quite a good, oh, no," the Doctor sighs. "On you go."

  
The Doctor sits back down, fingers rubbing his temples. So much for history. 

  
Vincent grabs a piece of charcoal after deciding the paint had dried and takes a seat in a mismatched chair, beginning to sketch the creature that only he can see.

  
He shows it to the Doctor and Peyton stands out of her seat to peer at it. To her, it is merely a scribble. From the expression on the Doctor's face, she knows it is puzzling him too.

  
"Right," he says, grabbing the painting off of Vincent. "Amy, make Mr Van Gogh comfortable. Don't let any invisible monsters in through the front door. Peyton, you come with me."

  
"But it could be outside, waiting," Amy grabs the Doctor's arm. "And why am I staying and she goes?"

  
"Because honestly," the Doctor leans in toward Amy, looking at Peyton with a smirk on his face. "I know you can hold your own if need be. This one, however, best stay close to me."

  
Peyton knows he doesn't mean it but she scrunches up her nose in disapproval as Amy and the Doctor laugh.

  
"And besides, what's the worst that could happen?" He shrugs.

  
"You could get torn into pieces by a monster you can't see," Amy suggests.

  
"Oh, right, yes. That."

  
Peyton glares at the Doctor deciding that it might be best to stay here anyway but before she can say anything, the Doctor grabs her wrist.

  
"Don't worry. We'll be back before you can say, 'Where've they got to now?"

  
• • •

  
"So why are we taking Vincent's scribble monster to the Tardis?" Peyton asks as they make their way through the empty streets of Provence in the early morning light.

  
The Doctor doesn't reply but they finally round the corner into the alley where the Tardis is tucked away. He pushed the door open and heads inside.

  
"Stay here, won't be a second," he says as he jumps up to the console. "Hold this." He tosses Peyton the painting and heads down the steps on the other side of the glass floor and takes a right into the corridor.

  
Peyton falls into the brown chair as she waits. Being alone in the console room always makes her feel weird. The Doctor told her that the Tardis was a living thing and it could talk to people, or maybe that was just his excuse for constantly rambling to himself.

  
She can hear him dragging something heavy. She stands to her feet and watches as he pulls an old case out into the corridor. He stops at the base of the stairs and begins rifling through its contents, throwing bits and pieces everywhere.

  
"Right. You in here somewhere?" There he goes again, talking to himself. Peyton crosses her arms as she watches him. "I can't apologise enough. I thought you were just a useless gadget. I thought you were just an embarrassing present from a dull godmother with two heads and bad breath. Twice."

  
He pulls out an object that looked like a child had grabbed a bunch of spare parts and tapped them together.

  
He brought it up to the console and placed it over the controls. "How wrong can a man be?"

  
Peyton walks toward him as he grabs a cord and plugs it into the machine and flicks a switch. The machine beeps and the Doctor sticks his tongue out at his reflection before reaching over to press the space bar on the typewriter, well, she assumes it was a typewriter.

  
The typewriter seemed to print a piece of paper with a black and white picture of an old man on it who seemed to fit the vague description the Doctor had given Peyton of one of his previous faces.

  
"Good, okay. You're working." He turns to Peyton. "Let's see what it makes of this."

  
He ushers her over and motions for her to hold up the image in front of the screen.

  
"Who is that?" The machine dings and the Doctor gently bats Peyton out of the way to get a look at the screen. She huffs, placing the canvas down against the console.

  
"No, I know it's not that!" The Doctor groans as a picture of a Macaw shows up on the screen. "There are thousands of them, and you can see them plain as day."

  
The machine dings again and a picture of a Polar Bear with its tongue poking out shows up, making Peyton laugh.

  
"No, definitely not," she shakes her head.

  
"This is the problem with the impressionists," the Doctor explains. "This would never happen with Gainsborough, or one of those proper painters." He pauses for a moment. "Sorry, Vincent. He's just going to have to draw something better." He picks up the painting and tosses it over his head.

  
He unplugs the device and pulls two straps out, slipping his arms through as if he were carrying one of those pouches for a baby.

  
"Really, Doctor?" Peyton laughs.

  
"Shut it," he points at her accusingly. "It's not as bad as half the things you humans wear in your day and age."

  
He heads toward the Tardis doors and she follows. He steps outside. The sun seems to be rising and movement can be heard in the streets. He adjusts the device and she hears it ding as if it registered a face.

  
Peyton looks up behind the Doctor, there's nothing there. Unless the machine can see things that they can't.

  
"Doctor?" She warns.

  
"That's better, old girl," he smiles. "Time delay, but you always get it right in the end," he looks at the screen. "Good, let's find out who this is then."

  
"Doctor," Peyton says again but he doesn't listen, why isn't she surprised?

  
"Whoa, whoa," he lowers his voice to a whisper. "There you are, you poor thing. You brutal, murderous, abandoned thing."

  
"Sounds lovely," Peyton raises an eyebrow.

  
"I hope we meet again soon so I can take you home."

  
"Be careful what you wish for," Peyton nervously shuffles from one foot to the other.

  
He fiddles with the dual again before looking back to the screen. His face freezes in horror.

  
"Peyton," he whispers. "Run!"

  
• • •

  
After what was a roller coaster of a morning, the mismatched band of four finally head to the church as the sun rolls toward the west. Vincent and Amy lead the way, holding painting supplies while Peyton and the Doctor trail a little way behind them.

  
They are talking softly, Peyton can't make out their conversation. She looks up at the Doctor's face. He is watching the swaying trees that line the dirt road they walk down. She wonders what he is thinking about.

  
"Hush," the Doctor mutters.

  
"I didn't say anything," Peyton says defensively.

  
"You were thinking, I'm trying to listen in to their conversation," he admits.

  
"You're charming," Peyton shakes her head. The Doctor doesn't reply. "Do you think she'll ever remember Rory?"

  
"Doubtful," he murmurs. "Just you and me to carry him onward. Never forget him, Peyton."

  
"So, when we go back to Leadworth, I'll be the only one who remembers him, right? Not even his parents?"

  
"Are you planning on going back anytime soon?" He raises an eyebrow.

  
Peyton gives up trying to get any sort of comforting answer out of him. She looks away.

  
"Okay, okay," the Doctor clasps his hands together, speaking to the other two as well. "So, now, we must have a plan; when the creature returns-"

  
"Then we shall fight him again," Vincent turns sharply to face the Doctor.

  
"Well, yes. Tick," the Doctor makes a tick in the air with his finger. "But last night, we were lucky. Amy could have been killed. So this time, for a start, we have to make sure I can see him too."

  
"And how are we meant to do that suddenly?" Amy asks.

  
"The answer is in this box," the Doctor pats the suitcase he holds that contains the machine from the Tardis. "I had an excellent, if smelly, godmother."

  
The Doctor begins walking toward the church again and Amy turns to Peyton. "What is he on about?"

  
"Just go with it," She sighs, jogging a little to catch up with the Doctor.

  
Ahead, Peyton sees several men dressed in black holding a wooden box above their heads. A funeral procession.

  
"Oh, no," Vincent mutters. "It's that poor girl from the village."

  
Peyton stands by the side of the road, bowing her head in respect as their judgeful eyes fall upon them. Vincent removes his hat and doesn't make eye contact with any of the passerbys.

  
"You do have a plan, don't you?" Peyton asks the Doctor, her eyes fixed on the arrangement of sunflowers that lay atop the coffin.

  
"No," he admits, walking forward. "It's a thing, it's like a plan, but with more greatness.

  
"Of course," Peyton sighs defeated, not sure what she was expected.

  
• • •

  
"And you'll be sure to tell us if you see any, you know, monsters," the Doctor says as Vincent finally takes a seat in front of his canvas.

  
"Yes," Vincent nods. "While I may be mad, I'm not stupid."

  
"No, quite," the Doctor apologises. "And, to be honest," he crouches beside the painter. "I'm not sure about 'mad' either. It seems to me that depression is a very complex-"

  
"Shh," Vincent raises a finger in front of the Time Lord's face. "I'm working."

  
Peyton and Amy chuckle to themselves.

  
"Well, yes," the Doctor frowns, getting to his feet. "Paint. Do painting!"

  
• • •

  
"I remember watching Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel," the Doctor says after a few hours of lazing in front of the old church. Peyton sits on the grass, leaning against an old headstone as Vincent paints the blue sky above the church. "Wow! What a whinger! I kept saying to him, 'look, if you're scared of heights, you shouldn't have taken the job, mate.'"

  
"Shh!" Vincent glares at him.

  
• • •

  
"And Picasso," the Doctor says out of nowhere, presumably finishing his thought from about half an hour ago. "What a ghastly old goat. I kept telling him, 'concentrate, Pablo. It's one eye, either side of the face."

  
"Quiet," Amy says as she grabs him by the sleeve, pulling him away from the painter.

  
• • •

  
It's dark now. Peyton lies in the grass, staring up at the night sky. The Doctor sits beside her, picking at the grass, tossing some on her every once in a while which earns him a half heart slap every time.

  
"Is this how time normally passes?" He groans. "Really slowly, and in the right order."

  
He jumps to his feet. "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's an unpunctual alien attack," he storms off behind Vincent. Peyton sits up and watches Amy follow him.

  
They exchange words with their backs turned to Peyton. Just as she's about to get up and join them, Vincent shouts, "There! He's at the window."

  
Peyton springs to her feet and scans the building. In the painting at the Musée d'Orsay, the Krafayis was in a window, but as expected, this time she cannot see it.

  
"Where?" The Doctor asks.

  
"There, on the right!"

  
"As I thought," the Doctor nods. "Come on."

  
"Well, I'm coming too!" Vincent announces.

  
"No!" The Doctor yells. "You're Vincent Van Gogh. No."

  
"But you're not armed," he protests.

  
"I am," the Doctor says, a little offended.

  
"What with?"

  
"Overconfidence, this," he taps the briefcase. "And a small screwdriver."

  
Peyton scoffs and shakes her head

  
"I'm absolutely sorted. Just have to find the right prosactic setting and stun him with it. Sonic never fails. Anyway, Amy, Peyton, only one thought, one simple instruction. Don't follow me under any circumstances."

  
Yeah right. "We won't," Peyton lies.

  
The Doctor walks off to the church and once he is out of earshot, Vincent leans over to the two girls.

  
"Will you follow him?"

  
"Of course," Amy laughs.

  
"I love you," Vincent professes.

  
"I totally feel like a third wheel right now," Peyton sighs dramatically. Amy wraps an arm around her shoulders.

  
"Naw, your first-time third-wheeling?" She teases. A sudden sadness crosses Peyton's heart, stunning her to her core. A sick feeling in her stomach threatens to rise up her throat. She shrugs Amy off, feigning a shiver in the warm night.

  
"He's just entered the church," Vincent says. "I guess I'll see you on the other side."

  
"Has he moved?" Amy asks.

  
"No. Just shifted to the next window. But wait! He's turning now!"

  
"Keep up the good work, Vincent," Peyton nods, walking backward toward the church, pointing at his canvas with one hand and grabs Amy's hand with the other. 

  
She turns around to briskly walk hand in hand with her, peering up at the ancient stone walls of the church. She shakes off her thoughts of Rory, distractions could get them killed. 

  
"Of course the monster has to be in a spooky building, didn't it," Amy shuddered. "Never in a nice field, or taking a dip in a pretty lake."

  
"Where's the fun in that?" Peyton shrugs.

  
The sound of a scream and the breaking of glass rings from the church.

  
"Doctor!" Peyton yells, sprinting the rest of the distance to the church doors.

  
Peyton and Amy make their way toward the sound of fast footsteps, panting and a high pitched beeping.

  
Peyton sees him up ahead in the doorway to a side room.

  
"Doctor!" Amy shouts.

  
"Ahh! I thought I told you two- Never mind, we'll talk about it later. Quick, in here."

  
The Doctor pulls open the doors to a confessional booth and pushes them inside.

  
Unfortunately, it seemed to be smaller on the inside than it was on the outside. Peyton finds herself almost pressed up against the Doctor's front with Amy seemingly in the other half of the confessional box.

  
Peyton doesn't move, however, trying to look through the mesh doors for any sign of the Krafayis.

  
"Absolutely quiet," the Doctor whispers, pulling open the slot behind Peyton's neck that leads to Amy's compartment. "Can you breath a little quieter please?"

  
"No!" Amy hisses back. "He's gone past."

  
"Shh." The sounds of furniture being pushed over has stopped and Peyton decides that Amy is probably right, the Krafayis has moved on to another part of the church.

  
A bang and the sound of breaking wood causes both Peyton and Amy to scream.

  
"I think he heard us," the Doctor says quietly.

  
Next to the Doctor's face, a chuck of wood is punched out and Peyton dodges it quickly in the little room she has.

  
"You think?" Peyton scowls, not bothering to whisper anymore.

  
"What's less impressive are our chances of survival." The Doctor ignores her sarcastic comment.

  
"Hey, are you looking for me, sonny?" Vincent's voice calls from somewhere in the room.

  
The confession booth stops shaking as the Krafaysis decides that it is more interested in Vincent than the three time travellers.

  
"Come on! Over here!"

  
Peyton peeks through the broken mesh of the door and sees Vincent in his coat and hat, holding his chair threateningly toward the beast.

  
He ducks as he thrusts the chair forward and the hat is knocked from his head.

  
Peyton pushes open the door gently, sure to not gain the attention of the invisible monster.

  
"Come on!" Vincent calls as he sees her. "Get behind me!"

  
Peyton doesn't argue and dash out from her hiding place and behind the painter who is grunting with effort as he forces the Krafayis to stay back.

  
"Doing anything?" The Doctor queries as he points his sonic screwdriver in the direction of the monster.

  
Vincent signals for them to fall back into the courtyard.

  
"Where is he?" The Doctor asks as they all tumble out into the night air.

  
"Where do you think he is, you idiot? Use your head!"

  
"Anything?" The Doctor asks again.

  
"Nothing. In fact, he seemed to rather enjoy it," Vincent scowled. "Duck! Left!" Peyton and the Doctor follow his orders and both get thrown back into a stone wall and fall into the dirt. "Right, sorry. Your right, my left."

  
Peyton groans and pushes herself to her feet, Amy rushing over to help the two of them. Peyton rubs her back with her eyes squeezed tight in pain.

  
"This is no good," The Doctor groans. "Run like crazy and regroup?"

  
"Oh, come on!" Amy groans. "In here!"

  
The four run through a heavy door and all lean against it on the other side, it doesn't seem to shut, however, as if the Krafayis has stuck its head through and is blocking the way. Vincent stomps his foot down on what she presumes is one of the Krafayis' appendages and the door finally closed.

  
"All right, okay," The Doctor pants, slightly panicked. "Here's the plan. Peyton, Amy, Rory-"

  
"Who?"

  
"Sorry, um, Vincent," the Doctor corrects himself.

  
Peyton realises that for a second she hadn't even registered the Doctor's slip of the tongue. 

  
"What? What is the plan?" Amy yells.

  
"I'm, I don't know, actually. My only definite plan is that in future I'm definitely just using this screwdriver for screwing in screws!" He shakes his sonic violently in front of his face before shoving it back in his jacket. 

  
"Give me a second, I'll be back," Vincent runs off.

  
"I suppose we could try talking to him," the Doctor suggests.

  
"Talking to him?" Peyton doubts.

  
"Might be interesting to know his side of the story," the Doctor shrugs. "Though maybe he's not really in the mood for conversation right at this precise moment."

  
"You don't say," Amy shrieks as the Krafayis bangs on the door again. Peyton leans all her weight into the door, next to Amy.

  
"Well, no harm in trying. Listen. Listen!" The Doctor shouts. The banging stops. How he manages to have that sort of effect on people, Peyton will never figure out. She supposes it's similar to her ability to get people to forget or overlook things so she can get what she wants. She'll have to ask about that later.

  
"I know you can understand me, even though I know you won't understand why you can understand me. I also know that no one's talked to you for a pretty long stretch, but please. Listen." Peyton isn't sure if it's working or not. The banging has certainly stopped but she can't hear any other noise. "I also don't belong on this planet. I also am, alone. If you trust me, I'm sure we can come to some kind of, you know, understanding. And then, and then, who knows?"

  
A glass window shatters inward from across the room. The wind howls as leaves and what Peyton only assumes is the Krafayis tumble in as well. So much for a helping hand.

  
The Doctor covers both Peyton and Amy with himself until the all too familiar voice of Vincent Van Gogh re-enters the room.

  
"Over here, mate!" He shouts, holding his easel under his arm, the stakes pointing outward toward the Krafayis.

  
"What's it up to now?" The Doctor asks as the three time travellers run behind Vincent.

  
"It's moving around the room, feeling it's way around."

  
"What?" The Doctor frowns as Peyton and Amy duck behind the stone alter, leaving the Doctor behind a column.

  
"It's like it's trapped. It's moving around the edges of the room.

  
"I can't, see, a thing," Peyton complains.

  
"I am really stupid," the Doctor whispers to himself.

  
"Oh, get a grip!" Amy groans. "This is not a moment to re-evaluate your self-esteem."

  
"No, I am really stupid. And I'm growing old." Well, nine hundred years does that to a person. "Why does it attack, but never eat its victims? And why was it abandoned by its pack and left here to die? And why is it feeling it's way helplessly around the wall of the room?" The Doctor dashes behind the alter to join the rest of the group. A stone statue falls to the floor. "It can't see, it's blind. Yes, and that, of course, explains why it has such perfect hearing!" The Doctor yells.

  
"And it, unfortunately, explains why it is now turning around and heading straight for us!" Vincent jumps out from behind the altar.

  
"Vincent, Vincent what's happening?" The Doctor asks, grabbing both Peyton and Amy's wrists and pulling them up.

  
"It's charging now. Get back. Get back!" Vincent yells.

  
With what is possibly the grossest noise ever, Vincent is lifted up in the air, Peyton can only imagine the stakes of the easel buried into the creature's chest. He falls to the ground, leaving the easel seemingly floating in mid-air. Peyton cringes as she realises the terrible pain the Krafayis must be in right now.

  
Vincent walks toward his easel, she presumes it's safe to follow him.

  
"He wasn't without mercy at all," Vincent chokes. "He was without sight. I didn't mean that to happen, I only meant to wound it. I never meant to..."

  
The easel continues to slowly rise and fall with the alien's breathing, so it can't be dead, but Peyton does notice the pattern becoming irregular.

  
"He's trying to say something," the Doctor realises, crouching beside it.

  
"What is it?" Vincent asks quietly.

  
"I'm having trouble making it out. But I think he's saying, 'I'm, I'm afraid. I'm afraid.'"

  
The Doctor reaches out his hand and seemingly rests it upon the creature. "There, there. Shh shh. It's okay. It's okay. You'll be fine. Shh, shh, shh," he whispers as he strokes the Krafayis gently.

  
The Doctor sighs and puts his head in his hands.

  
"He was frightened. And he lashed out, like humans, who lash out when they're frightened. Like the villagers who scream at me. Like the children who throw stones at me."

  
"You know, sometimes, winning... winning is no fun at all," the Doctor gets to his feet.

  
• • •

  
"I still don't think this is a good idea," Peyton says as they head back to the Tardis.

  
"Oh, hush, Peyton. Always the downer," the Doctor laughs. "Now, Vincent. You know we've had quite a few chats about the possibility there might be more to life than normal people imagine?"

  
They turn the corner into the alleyway where the Tardis is left. The Doctor groans as he sees it covered in posters.

  
"Yes?" Vincent replies sceptically.

  
"Ha. Well, brace yourself, Vinny." He uses his key to cut through the posters so the door can open. He pushes the door and motions for Vincent to go inside.

  
The three time travellers watch from the doorway as Vincent enters. Peyton smiles to herself as she watches him take in his surroundings. He walks back out, sticking his head around the corner. He cautiously paces around the Tardis, touching its outer sides.

  
He turns back to the three of them with a blank face. "How come I'm the crazy one? And you three have stayed sane?"

  
Peyton laughs as she enters the Tardis with him. The Doctor snatches his hat and places it on the coat stand before motioning for Amy to close the door.

  
"What do all these things do?" Vincent asks as he walks up to the console with the others.

  
"Oh, a huge variety of things." The Doctor smiles as Peyton leans back on the railing, watching the two of them. "This one here for instance," he walks around the other side. "Plays soothing music."

  
The Emperor's Waltz begins to play out of the Tardis speakers while Peyton springs off the railing to grab Amy's hand and by the waist, the two of them laugh heartily as they dance. 

  
"While this one makes a huge amount of noise," he looks to Peyton, who nods, before pulling the lever. An ugly sound comes from the depths of the Tardis and Vincent covers his ears. "And this one, makes everything go absolutely tonto."

  
The Doctor laughs as he sends the Tardis into flight. Peyton reaches for something to hold onto but the Tardis seems to settle in space.

  
"And this one?" Vincent asks, pointing to a small button.

  
"That's a friction contrafibulator!" The Doctor pushes Vincent out of the way.

  
"And this?" He points to another.

  
"Ah, that's ketchup, and that one's mustard."

  
"Mmm, nice," Vincent laughs. "Come on, back to the café, and you can tell me all about the wonders of the universe." He places his hands on the Doctor's shoulders:

  
"Good idea. Although, actually. There's a little something I'd like to show you first." The Doctor runs back to the console and sends the Tardis back into flight.

  
As Peyton grips the console she weighs up the possible positives and negatives of the Doctor's 'great idea'. Showing Vincent how great and respected he becomes, positive. Destroying the timeline of the universe, definitely negative.

  
The Tardis lands and the Doctor runs toward the door, walking out into the streets of Paris, 2010.

  
Peyton, Amy and Vincent follow closely, the two of them watching the latter closely making sure that he doesn't have a breakdown as he is faced with twenty-first-century technology.

  
"Where are we?" Vincent asks.

  
"Paris. 2010 A.D," the Doctor smiles.

  
"And this, is the mighty Musée d'Orsay," Peyton spreads her arms wide.

  
"Home to many of the greatest paintings in history," the Doctor adds.

  
"Oh, that's wonderful," Vincent smiles. His smile, however, turns to a frown however as two men walk past holding a hand-held radio.

  
"Uh, ignore that," the Doctor turns Vincent toward the building. "We've got something more important to show you."

  
Vincent is completely ecstatic as the four wander through the gallery. Vincent is eager to look at every painting, even recognising a few of them.

  
Peyton sees the Vincent Van Gogh exhibition up ahead and grabs his sleeve and tugs him along.

  
He doesn't realise it at first. There are so many people in the room. He looks around but it takes a second for him to realise what the paintings on the walls actually are.

  
Peyton watches his mouth fall open slightly and she smiles to herself. Maybe this wasn't a completely terrible idea after all.

  
"Doctor Black, we met a few days ago," the Doctor spies the tour guide and pulls him away from the group of children he was talking to. "I asked you about the church at Auvers."

  
Peyton and Amy grab Vincent and guide him closer to the Doctor and the guide's conversation,

  
"Oh, yes. Glad to be of help. You were nice about my tie."

  
"Yes. And today is another cracker, if I may say so." Peyton clears her throat to keep the Doctor on task. "But I just wondered, between you and me, in a hundred words. Where do you think Van Gogh rates in the history of art?"

  
Vincent stumbles backward at the question but Peyton and Amy both hold his arms gently.

  
"Well, uh, big question," he begins.

  
Peyton watches as Vincent listens to the conversation, turning on the spot to see all his paintings around the room. His eyes turn red and he sniffs a little.

  
The doctor, the human one, finishes and Vincent lets out a choked sob.

  
"Vincent?" The Doctor, the alien one, turns to him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Is it too much?" He pulls Vincent into a hug.

  
"No. They are tears of joy!" Vincent exclaims. He pulls away from the Doctor and pulls the gallery guide into a tight embrace. "Thank you, sir. Thank you."

  
"You're, you're welcome. You're welcome," the man says, clearly very confused.

  
"Sorry about the beard," Vincent runs his chin as he walks away from him.

  
• • •

  
Amy leads Peyton and the Doctor back into the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit. They had dropped Vincent home and Amy begged the Doctor to bring them back to see all the new paintings.

  
"So you were right. No new paintings," Amy turns to the Doctor with a defeated tone. He had warned her previously. "We didn't make a difference at all."

  
"I wouldn't say that," the Doctor reassured her. "The way I see it, is that every life is a pile of good things and bad things," he pulls Amy into a hug. "The good things don't always soften the bad things. But, vice versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant. And we definitely added to his pile of good things. And if you look carefully..."

  
He takes her hand and leads her to the painting of the church, Peyton follows closely behind.

  
"Maybe we did indeed make a couple of little changes."

  
There was no monster in the window like there was before. Peyton sighs happily. Maybe the Doctor has some wisdom in his words.

  
"No Krafayis," She notes.

  
"No Krafayis," the Doctor whispers.

  
Peyton turns slowly, looking around for any other changes that they may have made. Her eyes land on a painting to the right of her and she walks toward it slowly. "Amy, Doctor," she calls.

  
The painting of the sunflowers in a vase. Just above where Vincent had signed his name, she sees another scribble.

  
_For Amy._

  
"If we had got married, our kids would have had very, very red hair," Amy says softly.

  
"The ultimate ginger," The Doctor chuckles.

  
"Brighter than sunflowers," Peyton adds.


	13. The Day they were trapped on Aickman Road

The Tardis lands and Peyton bounces down to the doors.

  
"Hey!" The Doctor calls, catching up to her, placing his hand over her head and on the door so she can't open it. "Safety first."

  
Peyton scowls as he sticks his head outside so she pushes him causing him to stumble out. The atmosphere would be breathable when he brought up the idea of coming here, what's the worst that could happen. 

  
"Oi!" He shouts, a little offended. Peyton steps out behind him and looks around at the annoyingly mundane surroundings.

  
"Well, it's definitely not the fifth moon of Sinda Callista," says the Doctor. "I think I can see a Ryman's."

  
With a blast of force, Peyton and the Doctor are thrown forward onto the grass by the Tardis. They both sit up and the Doctor screams. "Amy, Amy!"

  
"Amy!" Peyton yells as the Tardis dematerialises in front of them.

  
"This is bad," the Doctor whispers.

  
"Yeah, no shit." Peyton rolls her eyes, hitting a pile of leaves on the ground with her hand. What are they supposed to do without the Tardis? And will Amy be safe there by herself?

  
"Okay, don't panic," the Doctor says, jumping to his feet and looking around frantically.

  
"Great advice," she laughs sarcastically. "Where are we, when are we?"

  
"Essex?" The Doctors guesses, spinning around in a circle. He drops down and picks up a leaf before licking it. "2010."

  
"Charming," she rolls her eyes, getting to her feet. "Where's the Tardis gone?"

  
"That's a very excellent question," the Doctor searches through his pockets for something. "Shout when you know the answer."

  
"What are you looking for?" Peyton frowns.

  
"These!" He laughs, pulling out two small objects and tossing one to her. "We should be able to sync them up to the Tardis, just give me a minute though."

  
Peyton looks down at it. It's an earpiece with some Gallifreyan markings on it. She places it in her ear just so she doesn't lose it.

  
"It's getting late, we should find somewhere to crash for the night."

  
"Good thinking."

  
• • •

  
The red door in front of them opens abruptly and a blonde-haired, slightly chubby man in a striped shirt steps out.

  
"I love you," he says.

  
"Well, that's good, 'cause we're your new lodgers," the Doctor smiles stupidly. "D'you know? This is going to be easier than I expected." He takes the keys with the fluffy tag that the man was holding.

  
"But I only put the advert up today, I didn't even put my address," he seems confused, but Peyton keeps an innocent face as they found the address written on a note above it, in Amy's handwriting no less. She loves time travel.

  
"Well, aren't you lucky we came along? More lucky than you know."

  
Why does the Doctor always lead with these dramatic statements? It never does them much good, it mostly just annoys whoever you happen to be talking to.

  
"Less of a young professional, more of an ancient amateur," he says regarding something the advert said. "Well, I am, she's my apprentice."

  
"Hey!" Peyton grumbles.

  
"But frankly, we're an absolute dream."

  
"Hang on, mate, I don't know if I want you staying," the man shakes his head, clearly not coping with the amount of information that was being dumped on him. "And give me back those keys. You can't have those!"

  
"Yes, quite right. Have some rent," the Doctor extends the paper bag toward him. Peyton places her head in her hand, embarrassed at his behaviour. "That's probably quite a lot, isn't it? Looks like a lot."

  
"I did try to tell him it was a lot," Peyton promises.

  
The Doctor barges past the man and into the apartment.

  
"So sorry about him," she apologises. "Zero people skills."

  
The man nods in agreement before hurrying after the Doctor. Peyton follows.

  
"Don't spend it all on sweets, unless you like sweets. I like sweets." The Doctor says, staring off into the distance. He quickly turns, as if remembering something he had forgotten.

  
He grabs the man by the shoulders and kisses the air either side of his face. "That's how we greet each other nowadays, isn't it? I'm the Doctor. Well, they call me the Doctor, I don't know why. I call me that Doctor too. Still, don't know why."

  
"And I'm Peyton," she says, feeling a little left out. She notices the Doctor sporadically looking between the landlord and the stairs, more specifically the door to the upstairs apartment.

  
"Craig Owens," he introduces himself, his tone giving away the fact that he is slightly overwhelmed. "The Doctor?"

  
"Yep. Who lives upstairs?"

  
The upstairs apartment. The Doctor said something up there is what is stopping the Tardis from landing. They sort out whatever's up there, back in the Tardis they go.

  
"Just some bloke," Craig shrugs.

  
"What's he look like?"

  
"Doctor," Peyton warns.

  
"Normal, very quiet." Craig's comment is punctuated with a rather loud bang from above your heads. "Usually."

  
The Doctor walks quickly through the door into Craig's apartment, apparently he seemed to have left his manners in the Tardis today.

  
"Sorry, who are you again? Hello?" Craig storms after him. With her hands clasped behind her back, Peyton follows silently. "Excuse me!"

  
"Ah!" The Doctor comes to a halt in the living room, staring up at a discolouration on the ceiling. "I suppose that's dry rot."

  
"Or damp. Or mildew," Craig stammers.

  
"Or none of the above?" Peyton adds. The Doctor turns his head and winks at her.

  
"I'll get someone to fix it."

  
"No, we'll fix it," the Doctor affirms. "I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister. No, I'm the Doctor, don't call me the Rotmeister."

  
Peyton rolls her eyes.

  
The Doctor turns on his heel and walks toward the kitchen, looking around the room. "This is the most beautiful parlour I have ever seen," he jumps onto the countertop, dangling his long legs absentmindedly. "You're obviously a man of impeccable taste."

  
Peyton glances around the room with a raised eyebrow. It was cluttered and kinda smelled like her uncle's house. The Doctor was obviously buttering him up.

  
"We can stay, Craig, can't we? Say we can." And there it is.

  
"You haven't even seen the room yet."

  
"The room?"

  
"Your room."

  
"My room? Oh, yes. My room, our room," he nods in Peyton's direction, way too excited about a bedroom. "Take us to our room."

  
Craig nods in the direction of the hall and the Doctor slides off the countertop and offers Peyton his arm as they both follow Craig. Peyton laughs quietly and places a hand on his forearm.

  
"Yeah, this is Mark's old room. He owns the place, moved out about a month ago. This uncle he'd never even heard of died and left a load of money in the will."

  
"How very convenient," The Doctor mutters after testing the springiness of the bed. Peyton agrees, kinda suspicious. "This'll do just right, Peyton, you agree?"

  
"Yeah, it's great," she forces a smile. Ugly wallpaper, very clearly a creaky bed frame, tacky decor. One bed. Oh Lord.

  
"In fact-" The Doctor is unable to finish his thought due to a loud banging noise and the sound of glass smashing upstairs.

  
He licks his finger delicately and holds it in the air as if testing for wind. Craig frowns as does Peyton.

  
"No time to lose. We'll take it. Ah! You'll want to see our credentials."

  
He whips out his ever trustworthy psychic paper.

  
"There, national insurance number." He tucks the paper behind his back, swapping it to his other hand. "NHS number," he lifts it up again. Another switch. "References."

  
"Is that a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury?"

  
"I'm his special favourite," he smiles. Peyton scoffs. "Are you hungry? I'm hungry." And just like that, he exits the room again.

  
"I haven't got anything in," Craig calls after him.

  
Peyton rushes after the Doctor with Craig to find him raiding the fridge.

  
"You've got everything I need for an omelette. Fines herbes! Pour trois!"

  
• • •

  
"You're sort of, fondling them," the Doctor points out.

  
Peyton places her empty plate on the side table and looks over to where Craig is quite rightly fondling a set of keys with a pink pom pom attached to them, the same ones the Doctor had plucked from his hand when they had first met.

  
"I'm holding them!" Craig drops them on the arm of the sofa before jumping up from his seat next to Peyton. "Anyway, these are your keys."

  
He walks to the counter and picks up a set of keys, holding them out. Peyton and the Doctor get to their feet and walk around the couch to him

  
"We can stay?" She says surprised. After the crap the Doctor has been spurting for the last half-hour she wasn't sure whether Craig was too weirded out.

  
"Yeah, you're both weird and he can cook. It's good enough for me. Right, outdoor. Front door. Your door," he holds up each key in turn.

  
"My door. Our door. My place," the Doctor smiles ecstatically, snatching the keys from Craig's hand. "My gaff. Ha ha! Yes! Me with a key."

  
"And listen, Mark and I, we had an arrangement where if you ever need me out of your hair, just give me a shout, okay?" Craig looks at the two of them in turn and winks.

  
The Doctor winks back and Peyton chokes on air, finally understanding what Craig was insinuating. Why was the Doctor winking back?

  
"Why would we want that?" The Doctor frowns.

  
"Well, in case you two, want some alone time," Craig whispers.

  
"No need to worry," you reassure him. "We'll, uh, shout." Peyton has never felt more awkward in her life, not even at that high school dance with Joshua Peters.

  
"By the way," the Doctor gets Craig's attention again. "That, the rot. I've got the strangest feeling we shouldn't touch it."

  
And with that, the Doctor leaves, probably heading back to their room. Peyton smiles apologetically at Craig.

  
"I've no idea how you put up with him twenty-four, seven," he laughs.

  
"Me neither," she grimaces.

  
"How long have you two been together?"

  
Ah. Um. Ha.

  
Her brain, usually so quick doesn't want to work. The idea of her being with the Doctor makes her so uncomfortable, she tries not to gag as she thinks of a response.

  
"Uh, we met two years ago," technically true. "Been together about eight months." Still technically true.

  
"Oh, good for you." Even Craig seems uncomfortable, his eyes dart over to the pink keys on the sofa.

  
"Yeah, well I better make sure he isn't burning the place down," she forces a laugh and walks briskly past Craig and into the hallway, barging through the door to her room.

  
The Doctor throws himself back into the bed as she enters. "Earth to Pond, Earth to Pond." Peyton hears his voice through the device in her ear as well as in front of her. "Come in Pond."

  
"Doctor!" Amy's voice screeches in their ears. "Sorry," she says quietly.

  
Peyton's ear rings with the sound of the feedback from the mic. "Could you not wreck the earpieces, Aimes?"

  
"How's the Tardis coping?" The Doctor asks. Always him and his box.

  
"Hmm, see for yourself," Amy sighs. The sound of the Tardis whines through your earpiece, it sounds strained and high pitched.

  
"Ooh, nasty," the Doctor sits up, frowning. "She's locked in a materialisation loop, trying to land again, but she can't."

  
"And whatever's stopping her is upstairs in that flat. So go upstairs and sort it!"

  
"We don't know what it is yet," Peyton explains, sitting by at the end of the bed, staring at the ugly wallpaper.

  
The Doctor stands up on the bed, Peyton bites back her remark about him still having his shoes on. "Anything that can stop the Tardis from landing is big, scary big."

  
"Wait, are you scared?" Amy asks.

  
"Well, I don't know what it is yet. I can't assess it's scary-ness until I go up there and I can't go up there until I know what it is and how to deal with it, and it is vital that this man upstairs doesn't realise who and what we are. He jumps a little on the bed you retreat to the edge of the room as you know how clumsy he is. "So no sonicing, got that, Peyton?"

  
"No sonicing," she repeats.

  
"No advanced technology. We can only use these 'cause we're on scramble. To anyone else hearing this conversation, we're talking absolute gibberish."

  
"My idea, I would like to let you know," Peyton affirms.

  
"All we've got to do is pass as ordinary human beings. Peyton of course, has practice, she's been passing as one of you lot since she was little. So, simple. What could possibly go wrong?"

  
"Have you seen you?" Peyton raises an eyebrow as he picks up a pair of aviator sunglasses and puts them on, checking himself out in the mirror.

  
"I think my neighbour's cat acts more human than you," Amy adds.

  
"You're just going to be snide? No helpful hints?"

  
"Hmm, well, here's one. Bow tie, get rid!" Amy suggests. 

  
"Bow ties are cool," the Doctor insists.

  
"Come on you two, I'm a normal bloke. Tell me what normal blokes do."

  
"They watch telly, they play football, they go down to the pub."

  
"And they don't wear a variation of the same outfit every day," Peyton adds with her arms crossed, watching the Doctor rifle through a book left on the dresser.

  
"I could do those things. I don't, but I could."

  
A crashing sound from upstairs makes the Doctor drop his book and the two Time Lords look up toward the roof.

  
"Hang on. Wait, wait, wait! Amy?" The Doctor asks.

  
A shriek and a crash can be heard through your earpiece.

  
"Amy?" Peyton calls.

  
The Doctor grabs her arm and points at the clock on the dresser, it's arms are spinning out of control.

  
"Interesting," he says. "Localised time loop." He raises his arm with the watch on his wrist, that too is spinning out of control.

  
"A what?" Peyton and Amy say at the same time.

  
"Time distortion," he murmurs. "Whatever's happening upstairs is still affecting you."

  
After a few seconds, the whirring and intermittent cries from Peyton's earpiece cease. "It's stopped, ish. What about your end?"

  
"Our end's good."

  
"So, doesn't sound great, but nothing to worry about?"

  
"No, no, no, not really," the Doctor says in his lying voice. "Just keep the zig zag plotter on full. That'll protect you."

  
• • •

  
Peyton lies back on the bed, playing a game on her phone. The Doctor is in the bathroom and Amy had decided she should get some sleep after staying up the past two nights worrying.

  
Last night the Doctor had let Peyton take the bed while he sat in the leather armchair across the room. On one hand, she felt bad for him, but on the other hand, he is a nine hundred-year-old man who she isn't even sure sleeps so she decided it was probably for the best.

  
A bang comes from upstairs again but Peyton hardly notices, it's the seventeenth time that has happened since they arrived.

  
What caught her attention, however, was the crash that came from the direction of the bathroom. Peyton locks her phone, tossing it beside her before heading out the door to see Craig coming down the stairs

  
"Craig!" Peyton yells. Had he been upstairs? Did he see him?

  
"What's happened? What's going on?" The Doctor shouts wearing nothing but a blue towel around his waist and brandishing an electric toothbrush. An image she could've gladly gone her whole life without seeing.

  
"Is that my toothbrush?" Craig asks.

  
"Correct," the Doctor realises.

  
"Did you speak to the man upstairs?" Peyton asks.

  
"Yeah."

  
"What did he look like?" The Doctor asks.

  
"More normal that you do at the moment, mate. What are you doing?"

  
The Doctor throws his hands over his nipples and Peyton stifles a laugh.

  
"I thought you might be in trouble."

  
"Thanks," Craig laughs. "Well, if I ever am, you can come save me, with my toothbrush.

  
• • •

  
"What are you actually called? What's your proper name?" Craig asks as the four walk through the park, Craig and the Doctor in their football gear, Peyton and Sophie wearing coats as the chill in the air raise goosebumps on their arms.

  
"Just call me the Doctor."

  
"I can't say to these guys, go, 'hey, this is my new flatmate. He's called the Doctor!'"

  
"Why not?"

  
"Because it's weird!"

  
"It's best to just go with it," Peyton suggests.

  
She looks around at all the men ahead wearing shorts and t-shirts in this weather and she shivers. Men are so weird.

  
• • •

  
After the game had finished and the strange revelation that the Doctor is actually pretty damn good at football, the Kings Arms celebrate in the park.

  
"You are so on the team," Isaac laughs, handing a beer can to Craig. "Next week, we've got the Crown and Anchor. We're gonna annihilate them!"

  
"Annihilate? No!" The Doctor stands up from where he was leaning on a bench.

  
"Doctor," Peyton sighs.

  
"No violence, do you understand me?"

  
"Doctor."

  
"Not while I'm around, not today, not ever. I'm the Doctor. The oncoming storm."

  
"Doctor!"

  
"And you basically meant beat them in a football match didn't you?"

  
"Yeah," Isaac says, a little scared.

  
"Lovely," the Doctor's face changes dramatically. "What sort of time?"

  
"Ahh!" Craig yells as he opens his can and it sprays over him.

  
The rest of the team laugh at him, so does Peyton and Sophie. Until it happens again, and again.

  
Peyton and the Doctor look at each other, the only ones unaffected by the loop.

  
"So it's happening everywhere, not just at the flat?" Peyton peers at one of the men unknowingly stuck repeating his actions.

  
The Doctor doesn't answer but as the loop begins to speed up, he grabs her arm and walks out into the field. He reaches into the pocket of her jacket and pulls his earpiece out that she promised to keep safe during the match.

  
"Amy? Amy!" He shoulder after putting his earpiece back in.

  
"It's happening again. Worse!" Amy yells into her ear.

  
"What does the scanner say?"

  
"A lot of nines. Is that good that they're nines? Tell me it's good that they're all nines."

  
"The number nine?" Peyton bites her lip, looking at the Doctor with concern.

  
"Yes, yes, it's. It's good! Uh, zigzag plotter. Zigzag plotter, Amy," the Doctor instructs.

  
All they can hear is the sounds of the Tardis for a seconds before Amy lets out a high pitched shriek.

  
"Amy? Are you there?" Peyton panics.

  
"Amy!" The Doctor calls.

  
"Yes. Yes, hello," Amy sounds frazzled but unhurt.

  
"Oh, thank heavens. I thought for a moment the Tardis had been flung off into the vortex with you inside it. Lost forever."

  
"Wait, you mean that could actually happen? You have got to get me out of here!"

  
"We're trying, Aimes," Peyton reminds her.

  
"How are the numbers?" The Doctor asks.

  
"All fives," Amy reports.

  
"Fives?" The Doctor confirms, looking back toward Craig, Sophie and the rest of the footballers. They had broken out of the loop and chatting as if nothing had happened. No one seemed to notice their absence though. "Even better. Still, it means the effect's almost unbelievably powerful and dangerous, but don't worry. Hang on okay?"

  
"Hey!" Amy yells.

  
"We've got some rewiring to do."

  
• • •

  
"Right!" The Doctor yells. "Shields up, let's scan!"

  
He spins the, whatever it is. Peyton wasn't exactly sure, the Doctor explained it very quickly so Peyton simply smiled and nodded to appease him. The contraption had also taken over the entire bed, leaving Peyton a little disgruntled. Even though she didn't need as much sleep as humans, she still enjoys the comfort of a bed. The Doctor promised that they wouldn't be here much longer if all goes to plan anyway. 

  
"What are we getting?" Peyton asks.

  
He lunges over and looks at the numbers on a digital alarm clock. "No traces of high technology, normal. No, no, no, no, no. It can't be. It's too normal!"

  
Peyton frowns, taking a look at the numbers herself. He's right. He said the higher the number, the more alien interference.

  
"Only for you two could too normal be a problem," Amy groans in her earpiece. "You said I could be lost forever. Just go upstairs!"

  
"Without knowing and get the both of us killed? Then you really are lost," the Doctor says as he dodges a rake sticking out of the machine. "If I could just get a look in there. Hold on."

  
The Doctor stops the spinning with his hand. "Use the data bank, get me the plans of this building. I want to know it's history, the layout. Everything. Meanwhile, we shall recruit a spy."

  
"A spy?" Peyton folds her arms. "Craig?"

  
"No, don't be daft."

  
• • •

  
"Morning," Peyton smiles as Craig stirs. He looks at the time on the alarm clock and jumps up. This morning she had woken up from an uncomfortable nap in the armchair of the spare room to the Doctor shouting. Turns out Craig had gone and touched the rot and gotten himself poisoned. The Doctor had instructed her to wait by him in case he wakes up and does something dumb. He announced that he would be going to work for Craig, which Peyton said was a terrible idea but he was out the door before she could stop him.

  
He gets out of bed and she rushes to stop him.

  
"You need to rest," Peyton instructx.

  
"No, I need to get to work," He barges past.

  
"Doctor's orders!" She says firmly.

  
"I need to get to work!"

  
"Fine! But let me drive, just to be safe."

  
• • •

  
"Hey, no need for that," Peyton pleads as Craig grabs the spare set of keys to the room that she and the Doctor shared. It was an awkward trip home from the office where Craig had felt utterly upstaged by the Doctor.

  
"You two are being weird," he shouts at her. "I wanna know what you two do in there. That gibberish talk, the crashing."

  
"I wouldn't-"

  
He unlocks the door and peers inside the mess of a room.

  
"-open that."

  
Craig slams the door. "You, living room, now. I'm calling the office to get this Doctor here too, that's not even a proper name."

  
• • •

  
Peyton felt like she were in time out as if she were a child. Craig had not said a word to her, throwing darts at the board on the wall while she sat on the sofa looking up at the discolouration on the ceiling.

  
Peyton hears the front door close softly and the Doctor's voice in the hallway.

  
Craig storms toward the door and peers out of the peephole before throwing the door open.

  
"Oh, hello," Peyton hears the Doctor say.

  
"I can't take this anymore. I want you two to go."

  
Peyton jumps to her feet as Craig storms back into the flat, the Doctor following him.

  
"You can have this back too," he thrusts the paper bag of money they had given him at the Doctor.

  
"What have we done?" The Doctor frowns.

  
"For a start, talking to a cat."

  
"That was just him," Peyton points out.

  
"And lots of people talk to cats," the Doctor says, throwing a handful of the money up in the air.

  
"And everybody loves you, and he's better at football than me, and my job, and now Sophie's all, 'oh monkeys, monkeys!' And then, there's that!" Craig pushes the door to their room open.

  
The Doctor runs in and stands in front of the mess as if trying to block it. "It's art! A statement on modern society. Ooh, ain't modern society awful?"

  
"This, it's not going to work out," Craig's voice breaks a little bit. "You two have only been here three days. They've been the three weirdest days of my life!"

  
"Your days will get much weirder if we go," the Doctor warns.

  
"I thought it was good weird. It's not, it's bad weird. I can't do this anymore!"

  
"Craig, we can't leave this place, I'm like you. I can't see the point of anywhere else. Madrid, ha! Want a dump! We have to stay!"

  
"No, you don't! You have to leave! Peyton, you've been awfully quiet, tell your boyfriend that I want you out!"

  
"We have to stay, just for a bit longer!" She reasons with him.

  
"Just get out!"

  
"Right," the Doctor grabs Craig by the front of his blazer. "Only way. I'm going to show you something, but shh, really shh. Oh, I am going to regret this. Right."

  
Peyton has no idea what the Doctor is blabbering about. But he seems to be psyching himself up for something.

  
"First, general background." He slams his forehead against Craig's and Peyton cringes at the sound. Both of them cry out in pain until Craig stands up and gasps, pointing at the Doctor.

  
"What did you do?" Peyton shouts.

  
"You're a- "

  
"Yes," the Doctor winces.

  
"From-"

  
"Shh!"

  
"And she's-"

  
"Uh, huh."

  
"You've got a Tardis!"

  
"Shh, yes, shh!" The Doctor manages to stand up straight again. "Eleventh," he motions to his face.

  
He grabs Craig's blazer again. "Right, okay. Specific detail."

  
He launches his head at Craig's again and Peyton grimaces. They both cry out and grab their foreheads. This is brutal to watch.

  
"You saw my ad in the paper shop window!"

  
"Yes, with this right above it," the Doctor brandishes the card they spotted with Amy's writing on it. "Which is odd, because Amy hasn't written it yet. Time travel, it can happen."

  
"That's a scanner," Craig points at the makeshift machine in the middle of the room. "You've used non-technological technology of Lammasteen!"

  
The Doctor presses his hand to Craig's mouth. "SHUT UP!"

  
"I am never doing that again!" The Doctor groans, sitting down on the bed frame, pressing a finger to his ear. "Amy?"

  
"That's Amy Pond!"

  
"Oh, you can understand us now," Peyton smiles as she turns her own earpiece on.

  
"Have you got those plans yet?" The Doctor asks,

  
"Still searching for them," Amy reports.

  
"I've worked it out, with psychic help from a cat," the Doctor explains.

  
"Cat?" Amy asks.

  
"Yes. I know he's got a time engine in the flat upstairs. He's using innocent people to try and launch it. Whenever he does, they get burnt up, hence the stain on your ceiling," he motions to Craig,

  
"From the ceiling," Craig cries,

  
"Well done, Craig," the Doctor nods. "And you, Miss Pond, nearly get thrown off into the Vortex."

  
"Lovely."

  
Another smash comes from upstairs.

  
"People are dying up there," Craig shouts. "People are dying. People are dying."

  
Peyton watches with a concerned frown as Craig is trapped, forced to repeat his words over and over. "Amy," Peyton warns.

  
"They're being killed!" Craig seems to break out of the loop.

  
"Someone's up there," Peyton gasps. The three rush toward the stairs, Peyton can hear Amy screaming in her earpiece.

  
"Doctor! Peyton!" Amy yells.

  
"Hang on!" The Doctor sprints up the stairs, closely followed by Peyton, then Craig. But he stops at the bottom of the stairs.

  
"Craig come on! There's someone dying," Peyton looks back at him but he's staring at the door to his flat. She follows his eye line and sees Sophie's keys sticking out of the lock.

  
"It's Sophie that's dying up there! It's Sophie!" He cries. Peyton continues to rush up the stairs.

  
"STOP!" Amy yells so loud that she doubles over.

  
"What?" The Doctor asks.

  
"Are you upstairs?"

  
"Just going in," he says.

  
"No, but you can't be upstairs," Amy yells.

  
"Of course we can be upstairs!"

  
"Come on!" Craig pleads.

  
"What do you mean, Amy?" Peyton says.

  
"No! I've got the plans. You cannot be upstairs because it's a one-story building. There is no upstairs!"

  
The three look at each other and down the stairs.

  
This is starting to get really weird.

  
The Doctor pulls out his sonic and pushes the door open anyway and they tumble inside.

  
"What?"

  
It was no English flat. It reminds Peyton of the console room in the Tardis. A darker colour scheme perhaps and a lot bigger. Emptier too, nothing decorating the room bar the control station in the middle.

  
"Oh, oh, of course," the Doctor sighs. "The time engine isn't in the flat. The time engine is the flat."

  
Peyton ventures further into the flat, looking around but staying close to the Doctor.

  
"Is this someone's attempt to build a Tardis?" Peyton asks.

  
"I think so."

  
"No, there's always been an upstairs!" Craig shakes his head.

  
"Has there? Think about it?"

  
"Yes! No. I don't-"

  
"Perception filter?" Peyton looks at the Doctor.

  
"Exactly," the Doctor points a finger gun in her direction. "It's more than a disguise, it tricks your memory."

  
A scream rings out from across the room.

  
"Sophie!" They cry in unison.

  
Peyton sees her across the room, her hand outstretched and some sort of energy forming a line between her palm and one of the panels of the console.

  
"Oh my God, Sophie!"

  
• • •

  
Peyton wraps her arms around the Doctor's waist, digging her heels into the ground as the energy tries to pull him in.

  
"My hand touches that panel, the planet doesn't blow up, the whole solar system does!"

  
"The correct pilot has been found," the Hologram repeats.

  
"No, worst choice ever, I promise you! Stop this!"

  
"Doctor! It's getting worse!" Amy screams into Peyton's ear.

  
"It doesn't want everyone, Craig. It didn't want you!"

  
"I spoke to him and he said I couldn't help him!" Craig yells, clutching Sophie.

  
"It didn't want Sophie before today but now it does. Why? What's changed?"

  
"We gave her the idea of leaving!" Peyton shouts. "It's a ship, it wants to leave. It wants people who want to escape, and you don't want to leave, Craig."

  
"You're Mr Sofa man," the Doctor continues.

  
"Doctor! Peyton!" Amy yells.

  
"Craig you can shut down the engine," the Doctor pleads. "Put your hand on the panel and concentrate on why you want to stay!"

  
"Craig, no!" Sophie yells.

  
"Will it work?" Craig asks.

  
"Yes!"

  
"Are you sure?"

  
"Yes!"

  
"Is that a lie?"

  
"Of course it's a lie!" The Doctor screams.

  
"It's good enough for me," Craig shouts his eyes. "Geronimo!"

  
The Doctor's hand is released and the two fly backwards. They hit the floor but the Doctor is quick to pull Peyton back on her feet.

  
Craig is screaming, Sophie is screaming, Amy is screaming, Peyton's screaming.

  
"Craig, what's keeping you here? Think about everything that makes you want to stay here! Why don't you want to leave?" The Doctor encourages him.

  
"Sophie! I don't want to leave Sophie!" He admits. Peyton looks to Sophie who is shocked. "I can't leave Sophie! I love Sophie!"

  
"I love you too, Craig, you idiot!" She places her hand atop his on the panel, staring into his eyes while the Doctor runs off around the control panels trying to deactivate them with his screwdriver, Peyton decide it's best to follow him.

  
"Doctor! Peyton!" Amy screams.

  
"Honestly, do you mean that?" Craig asks softly.

  
"Of course I mean it, do you mean it?"

  
"I've always meant it. Seriously though, do you mean it?"

  
"Yes!"

  
"What about the monkeys?"

  
Peyton raises an eyebrow in the Doctor's direction, wondering if this conversation is super necessary.

  
"Not now, not again. Craig, the planet's about to burn!" The Doctor yells.

  
"For God's sake, kiss the girl!" Peyton shouts.

  
"Kiss the girl!" Amy yells, even though Craig and Sophie can't hear her, Peyton appreciates her enthusiasm.

  
They kiss and the room stops shaking. That's something straight out of a movie right there.

  
"Peyton, Doctor, you've done it!" Amy laughs. "You've done it. Now the screen's just zeros. Now it's minus one, minus twos, minus threes. Big yes!

  
"Help me!" The hologram begins chanting, switching between its different forms randomly.

  
Peyton looks to the Doctor.

  
"Big no," he says. The room starts shaking again.

  
"Did we switch it off?" Craig asks.

  
"Emergency shutdown, it's imploding. Everybody out! Out! Out!"

  
• • •

  
Peyton leans against the doorframe, watching the Doctor place the keys down gently on the counter while Craig and Sophie make out on the couch.

  
Now that the alien of the day had buggered off, the Tardis could land and they could all be on their way.

  
"Oi!" Craig calls out just as the two Time Lords turn to leave.

  
"What? You were trying to sneak off?" Sophie frowns.

  
"Yes, well, you were sort of..." the Doctor trails off.

  
"Busy," Peyton finishes for him.

  
Craig chuckles and picks up the keys. "I want you to keep these," he says.

  
"Thank you," the Doctor smiles and places them gently in his pocket. "'Cause we might pop back soon, have another little stay."

  
"No you won't, I've been in your head, remember?" Craig sighs. "I still want you to keep them."

  
"Thank you, Craig."

  
"Yes, for everything," Peyton adds.

  
"Thank you, Doctor, Peyton."

  
"Sophie," Peyton smiles with a nod.

  
"Now then, six billion, four hundred thousand and twenty-six people in the world. That's the number to beat," the Doctor smiles, patting both of them on the shoulder before glancing at Peyton and nodding toward the door.


	14. The Day of the Big Bang II

"There, that's it. Then pull that one. There we go!" The Doctor cheers, putting up his hands for a double high five.

"So I'm doing it? Actually flying the Tardis?" Peyton asks estatically, high fiving him in celebration.

"No, not really, you just turned the air conditioner off and on again. But, baby steps," he grins cheekily. "Where's Amy? I have an idea."

"Down there I think," Peyton points at the glass floor of the console. The Doctor prances to the railing before dropping to the floor and letting his head hang over the side.

"Va voom!" He exclaims.

"Va what?" Peyton hears Amy say.

"Get up here!" He yells jumping to his feet again and racing around the console. "I can't believe I've never thought of this before. It's genius!"

"Right," Peyton raises an eyebrow as Amy joins them quietly. The two share a look and giggle at the Doctor's antics.

He pulls the large lever and Peyton quickly grabs the console to stop her stumble. "Landed, come on."

"Where are we?" Amy asks as the Doctor walks toward the door.

"Planet one," he says.

"That's a rubbish name," Peyton scoffs.

The Doctor sends her a warning look with a pointed finger before continuing. "The oldest planet in the universe. There's a cliff of pure diamond, and according to legend, on the cliff there's writing. Letters fifty feet high, a message from the dawn of time. And no one knows what it says, 'cause no one's ever translated it, till today."

"What happens today?" Amy asks.

"Us," the Doctor taps her on the nose before racing back toward the door. "The Tardis can translate anything. All we have to do it open the doors and read the very first words in recorded history."

He offers a hand to Amy and she offers her hand to Peyton, so in a chain, they barge out the Tardis doors.

It's a tropical sort of planet. Giant mushrooms are a first though.

Peyton can tell what the Doctor meant by a giant cliff face. It really is immense. And on it, writing in plain old English.

HELLO SWEETIE

Below it, a set of symbols she recognises as universal coordinates.

Peyton smiles, there's only one woman it could be. She's only met her once but she already knows that this is exactly the sort of thing she'd do.

Amy laughs. "Va voom!"

• • •

"Hail, Caesar," the legionnaire salutes and drops to one knee.

"Hi," the Doctor says awkwardly.

"Welcome to Britain. We are honoured by your presence."

"Well, you're only human," the Doctor nods, Peyton nudges him as she rolls her eyes. "Arise, Roman person."

"Why does he think you're Caesar?" Amy sighs.

The legionnaire gets to his feet. "Cleopatra will see you know."

If Peyton's not mistaken, Cleopatra never came to Britain. And if she's also not mistaken, that's a lipstick stain on the corner of his mouth.

• • •

Peyton steps inside the tent behind the Doctor and bumps into his back as he stops in his tracks. She moves beside him to see an Eygptian queen sitting on a chaise lounge with two manservants dressed in Egyptian garb doting on her.

"Hello, sweetie," she flashes a smile in the Doctor's direction.

"River!" Peyton laughs in shock.

"Hi," Amy matches her sentiment.

The Doctor waits for the servants to leave before stepping closer to River. "You graffitied the oldest cliff face in the universe."

"You wouldn't answer your phone," she claps her hands and one of the servants re-enters the room with a scroll in hand, offering it to her delicately. She, in turn, offers it to the Doctor.

"What's this?" He questions.

"A painting," she replies simply. "Your friend Vincent's."

All it took was his name for the Doctor to snatch it from her. Peyton's heart pains a little at the memory of the time she spent with the world-renowned painter.

The Doctor heads to a writing desk across the tent.

"One of his final works," River explains. "He has visions, didn't he? I thought you ought to know about this one."

The Doctor lays the painting flat on the table and the four hunch over to study it.

Yellow swirls cover a midnight background. An explosion of sorts. With something all too familiar at the centre.

"Doctor, is that?" Peyton cuts herself off, not even wanting to say it.

"Doctor, what is this?" Amy asks.

It's the Tardis. The Tardis is exploding.

"It's - it's my Tardis," the Doctor says quietly, running a finger down the canvas.

"Why is it exploding?" Amy asks.

"I assume it's some kind of warning," River shrugs.

The Doctor walks away and plops himself down into a chair, burying his face in his hands.

"Do you think it's a prophecy? A warning?" Peyton takes another look at the painting.

"What could possibly make the Tardis explode?" Amy frowns.

"I don't think it's literal," River shakes her head. "Anyway, this is where he wanted you. Date and map reference on the door sight. See?"

"Does it have a title?" The Doctor asks with a sigh, lifting his head up.

"'The Pandorica Opens'," River states.

"The Pandorica? What is that?" Peyton asks.

"A box. A cage. A prison," River sighs. "It was built to contain the most feared thing in all the universe."

"It's a fairy tale!" The Doctor shakes his head, getting up from the chair and pacing. "A legend. It can't be real!"

"If it is real, it's here, and it's opening," River argues. "And it's got something to do with your Tardis exploding!"

The Doctor picks up a bunch of maps and throws them over the painting.

"Hidden, obviously. Buried for centuries. You won't find it on a map," River chastises.

"No, but if you buried the most dangerous thing in the universe, you'd want to remember where you put it," the Doctor places his finger on the map, his hand obscuring the name.

• • •

Peyton had been to Stonehenge once before. A school field trip in year six. It's a bit different from how she remembers it. Fewer tourists, fewer fences.

The four run into the centre of the monument. River, who had changed out of her Egyptian silks was now wearing a white coat and brown pants, a gun strapped to her thigh, holds her scanner up, looking for something.

The Doctor whips out his sonic screwdriver and begins running frantically between rocks. Peyton pulls her own sonic pen from her jacket pocket. She sets it to look for anything non-organic.

"How come it's not new?" Amy asks, running her hand along the ancient stones.

"Because it's already old," River explains. "It's been here thousands of years. No one knows exactly how long."

"Okay, this Pandorica thing," Peyton lowers her sonic. "Last time we saw you, you warned us about it, after we climbed out of the Byzantium."

"Spoilers," River raises a finger to her lips and winks at her.

"No, but you told the Doctor you'd see him again when the Pandorica opens," Peyton insists.

"Maybe I did. I haven't yet. But I will have," she says as she walks away from her. "Doctor, I'm picking up fry particles from everywhere. Energy weapons discharged on this site."

"If the Pandorica is here, it contains the mightiest warrior in history," the Doctor says as he jumps up onto a rock. "Now half the galaxy would want a piece of that. Maybe even fight over it."

Peyton watches with her arms folded as he jumps down and presses an ear to the rock he was just standing on. "We need to get down there."

"Down where?" She raises an eyebrow.

• • •

Night has fallen.

Peyton and Amy sit back to back on one of the rocks, feeling a bit useless as the Doctor and River run around the site, setting up lights and some devices Peyton couldn't quite guess their purpose.

"Right then, ready?" River steps back from the last device she planted on the rock the Doctor had decided was the door to whatever was below.

Peyton and Amy jump off the rock and join the Doctor as River pushes a few buttons on her device.

A rumble comes from beneath the soil as if giant cogs are turning beneath their feet. The rock in front of them begins to move, revealing a dark staircase into the earth.

The four take a step forward slowly, peering into the blackness. River shines a torch into the cavity.

"The Underhenge," the Doctor mutters.

With his sonic screwdriver pointed ahead, shining brightly, he proceeds forward slowly, Peyton following close behind, then Amy, then River at the rear.

She can't see much as she peers over the Doctor's shoulders. She tries her best not to slip on the stone stairs. It smells like wet soil and stale air, she fights back a cough.

At the bottom of the stairs is a landing area. The Doctor points his sonic at a torch on the wall and its head bursts into flames. Tucking his sonic away, he picks the torch up, bringing it closer to the centre of the room where River is waiting with an unlit torch herself. He lights hers with his own and Peyton stares up at the metal door before them.

It's huge, but only a plank of wooden sitting across its brackets keeps it closed. The Doctor pushes it up and the plank falls to the ground unceremoniously, causing a cloud of dust to rise into the air, tickling her nose.

The Doctor smiles in anticipation as he leans against the door with all his weight. With a loud creak, it falls open, she peers past him inside.

It's a large room with thick stone columns every few feet. Thick cobwebs hang from the ceiling and roots from trees long dead snake around above her head.

In the centre of the room, however, there's a large cube with a circular design etched into its sides.

"The Pandorica," the Doctor gasps.

"More than just a fairytale," River says in awe.

The Doctor takes a few steps forward but Peyton is still rooted in place by wonder.

His foot hits something and a metallic scraping fill the air, they all look down and see a metal arm, covered in dust, no sight of a body around.

"What is it?" Peyton asks but she gets no answer. The Doctor continues his path toward the Pandorica, holding the torch ahead of him.

Peyton walks closely to River and Amy as the Doctor reaches his hand out and places it on the smooth surface of the Pandorica.

"There was a goblin," he begins. "Or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing. Soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos." He runs his hand over the circular pattern. "And nothing could stop it or hold it or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world."

"How did it end up in there?" Amy asks.

"You know fairy tales," he chuckles. "A good wizard tricked it."

"I hate good wizards in fairy tales," River says, handing Peyton her torch as the Doctor runs off to investigate some more. "They always turn out to be him."

"So it's kinda like Pandora's box, then?" Amy watches River closely as she uses her device to take a reading on the Pandorica. Peyton holds the torch high so that River still has light but she can look around a bit too. "Almost the same name."

"Sorry, what?" The Doctor asks from across the room.

"The story, Pandora's Box, with all the worst things in the world in it," Amy says ominously. "That was my favourite book when I was a kid."

The Doctor stops scanning immediately and walks over to her.

"What wrong?" She laughs.

"Your favourite school topic, your favourite story," he studied her face. "Never ignore a coincidence, unless you're busy. In which case, always ignore a coincidence."

"So, can you open it?" River asks as the Doctor turns his attention back on the box.

Peyton looks to Amy, dwelling on the Doctor's words even if he won't. Amy catches her staring and rolls her eyes.

"Relax, Peyton," Amy punches her in the shoulder. "It's nothing.."

"But he's right!" Peyton hisses as the Doctor and River Song talk about something. "Never ignore a coincidence!"

"Yeah, but we're busy," Amy gestures to the other two. "Can you drop it."

"I'm worried," Peyton mutters. "You think the Tardis is really going to explode?"

"The Doctor will stop it," Amy smiles confidently. "Let's explore."

Peyton glances over at the Doctor and River having an intense discussion and decide that it's best to stick with her best friend.

"I reckon they need to get a feather duster in here," Amy jokes.

Peyton pokes at a spiderweb with the torch and it disintegrates with a flash of flame. She keeps looking over her shoulder at the Doctor and River whispering.

She hears a noise in front of them and Amy grabs her sleeve. Peyton holds the torch out threateningly but she cannot see anything.

"Maybe we should stick with them," Amy nods in the direction of their friends.

Peyton manages to catch a snippet of their conversation.

"So why would it start to open now?" River asks.

"No idea," the Doctor murmurs.

"And how could Vincent have known about it?" Amy clears her throat. "He won't even be born for centuries."

"The stones!" The Doctor runs to the nearest pillar and scans it with his sonic. "These stones are great big transmitters, broadcasting a warning to everyone, to everywhere, to every time zone. 'The Pandorica is opening'."

"Doctor, everyone, everywhere?" River stands to her feet.

"Even poor Vincent heard it in his dreams. But what's in there? What could justify all this?" The Doctor frowns.

"Doctor, everyone?" River repeats herself.

"Anything that powerful, I'd know about it," the Doctor begins pacing. "Why don't I know?"

"Doctor, what do you mean when you say everyone could hear it?" Peyton asks cautiously, picking up on what River is trying to say.

"Who else is coming?" River continues.

The Doctor stops, turning slowly back to face them. "Oh."

"Oh? Oh, what?" Amy says, her voice a little worried.

"Okay," River walks over to one of the pillars and places her device against it. "If it is basically a transmitter, we should be able to fold back the signal."

"Doing it!" The Doctor nods, scanning each of the pillars in turn.

"Doing what?" Peyton and Amy ask at the same time.

"Stonehenge is transmitting. It's been transmitting for a while, so who heard?" River poses the question and it hits Peyton like a ton of bricks. She hasn't been travelling with the Doctor long but she has already met some nasty creatures from across space and time. How many of them are coming?

"Okay, should be feeding back to you now," the Doctor says to River. "River, what's out there? Getting anything?"

"Give me a moment."

"River, quickly, anything?"

"Around this planet, there are at least ten thousand starships," River gasps.

"At least?" Peyton huffs.

"Ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million, I don't know. There are too many readings."

"What kind of starships?" The Doctor asks.

From River's device, Peyton hears a familiar sound. The voice of the Daleks.

"Daleks, those are Daleks," Amy's hand grips Peyton's arm who freezes to the spot.

The Doctor seems to be at a loss for words, simply stumbling in a circle, listening to the voice of his greatest enemy.

"Daleks, Doctor," River tries to get the Doctor's attention, not sure if he had heard.

"Yes. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Dalek fleet. Minimum, twelve thousand battleships, armed to the teeth," he starts pacing again, tossing his screwdriver from hand to hand. "Ah! But we've got surprise on our side. They'll never expect four people to attack twelve thousand Dalek battleships. 'Cause we'd be killed instantly. So it would be a fairly short surprise. Forget surprise."

"Doctor, Cyber-ships!" River warns, having moved to another pillar.

"No, Dalek ships. Listen to them. Those are Dalek ships."

"Yes, Dalek ships _and_ Cyber ships," River stresses.

"Well, we need to start a firefight, turn them on each other. That's easy," the Doctor still fiddles with his sonic, pacing more vigorously now. "It's the Daleks. They're so cross."

"Sontaran. Four battle fleets," River reports after running to another pillar.

"Sontarans! Talk about cross, who stole all their handbags?"

Peyton's head starts to spin. These names she had never heard of, so much danger flying above their heads right now.

"Tereleptil. Slitheen. Chelonian. Nestene. Drahvin. Sycorax. Haemo-Goth. Zygote. Atraxi. Draconian. They're all here for the Pandorica!"

As River lists all the aliens currently sitting above their heads, the Doctor stumbles backward until he reaches the Pandorica. He turns quickly.

"What are you?" He questions it softly. "What could you possibly be?"

The sound of aircraft engines thunder from the skies and Peyton knows it's a bit early for planes. She drops the torch and sprints with the others back up the staircase and into the English air.

Peyton cranes her neck to the sky. Lights flashing, space ships rushing about.

"What do we do?" Amy stammers.

"Doctor, listen to me!" River warns. "Everything that has ever hated you is coming here tonight. You can't win this. You can't even fight it. Doctor, this once, just this one time. Please, you have to run!"

"Run where?"

"Fight how?"

The Doctor pulls a pair of binoculars from his pocket and peers off into the distance. "The greatest military machine in the history of the universe."

"What is? The Daleks?" Peyton asks, definitely panicking now.

"No, no, no, no, no," the Doctor shakes his head. "The Romans."

• • •

"So what's this got to do with the Tardis?" Amy asks. River had left to seek help from her Roman friends, leaving Peyton, Amy and the Doctor to venture back down into the Pandorica's chamber.

Peyton sulks a little, kicking over a small stone, as River had insisted on taking her sonic with her and surprise, surprise, the Doctor backed her up over Peyton. 

"Nothing, as far as I know," the Doctor grumbles, inspecting the mysterious box.

"But Vincent's painting," Peyton reminds him. "The Tardis was exploding. Is that going to happen?"

"One problem at a time," the Doctor shakes his head. Peyton leans against the Pandorica, the Doctor gives her a chastising glare. "There's force field technology inside this box, if I can enhance the signal, I could extend it all over Stonehenge," he says as he presses the buzzing tip of his screwdriver to a device similar to River's. "Could buy us half an hour."

"What good is half an hour?" Amy asks with her hands on her hips from behind the Doctor.

"There are fruit flies that live on Hoppledom Six that live for twenty minutes and they don't even mate for life."

Peyton and Amy share an unimpressed look.

"There was going to be a point to that," he mutters. "I'll get back to you."

• • •

The Doctor and Amy were in the middle of a very heartfelt moment when out of nowhere, something starts shooting red lasers at them.

Peyton, Amy and the Doctor flee behind the Pandorica, leaning against it together, panting heavily. Part of her is relieved, being the third wheel is horrible. But the rational part of her reminds her that this is a life or death situation.

"What was that?" Amy yells at the Doctor.

"Okay, I need a proper look," the Doctor says. "Got to draw its fire, give it a target."

"How?" Peyton frowns.

"You know how sometimes I have really brilliant ideas?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry," the Doctor runs out from their hiding place without any warning and Peyton and Amy simply watch in horror. "Look at me, I'm a target!"

"What is it?" She yells when the Doctor had successfully ducked behind a stone pillar to avoid the fire.

"Cyber arm. Arm of a Cyberman," he says quickly.

"And what's a Cyberman?" Amy asks, a bit panicked.

"Oh, sort of part man, part robot," the Doctor says uncomfortably nonchalant. "The organic part must have died off years ago. Now the robot part is looking for, well, fresh meat."

"What, us?" Peyton bites her lip.

"Yeah, it's just like being an organ donor except you're alive and sort of, screaming."

Peyton's heartbeats start to quicken. Sweat trickles down her forehead. This was not how she wanted to spend her evening.

"Actually, I need to get behind it. Could you two draw its fire?"

"What, like you did?" Amy exclaimed.

"You'll be fine if you're quick. It's only got one arm, literally," the Doctor assures them with two thumbs raised but it really doesn't help.

Amy interlocks her fingers with Peyton's. "I hate him," she whispers before the two run back around the Pandorica screaming loudly.

Peyton can feel the heat of the lasers as they narrowly miss them before Amy pulls her behind a pillar.

They both poke their heads out to see the Doctor on the floor, struggling with the metal arm. He manages to pin it down and pull out his sonic, disabling it Peyton supposes.

"Doctor?" Amy asks, stepping forward.

"Scrambling its circuits. But stay where you are," he warns. "It could be bluffing."

"Bluffing? It's an arm!" Peyton points out, her too stepping out from behind the pillar.

"I said stay where you are!" The Doctor yells.

Peyton folds her arms and looks over to Amy who has the same annoyed expression on her face as she does.

Peyton hears a metallic scraping. Not sure of what it is, she looks down to see a cord wrapping around Amy's ankle.

"Doctor?" She whimpers before it pulls her to the ground.

"Amy!" Peyton and the Doctor both yell. The Doctor jumps to his feet but just as he does, the metal arm sends an electric current through his body and he collapses to the floor.

"Doctor!" Peyton and Amy scream.

"Peyton, help him!" Amy insists, kicking at the thing holding her. It looked like a head, Peyton guesses it belonged to the arm across the room.

From her position, she can see the Doctor's chest rise and fall so she decides where her priorities lie.

"He'll be fine," Peyton promises, watching in horror as the cords from the thing's neck extend around Amy's wrists. She screams.

"Peyton!" She holds the head by handles either side of it. Getting to her feet she holds it as far away from her face as possible. "Do something?"

"What do you want _me_ to do?" Peyton shouts, panicking further at the sight of the Cyber head splitting in two and a human skull dropping to the floor.

"Sonic it!" Amy shrieks as the two halves snap open and closed, as if trying to grab at her face.

"Oh, let me just pop out and grab it from River!" Peyton shouts sarcastically, she knew she would need it.

"For God's sake!" Amy starts bashing the thing against the stone wall of the chamber desperately as Peyton stands by helplessly. Amy throws it forward and it lets go of her arms.

They both breath a sigh of relief as they watch it use its cords to slither itself into the darkness.

"High five?" Peyton asks tentatively. Amy just glares at her.

"Doctor?" She calls as the head stops moving as if looking at the two of them.

Peyton feels a sudden and sharp pain in her neck. She winces and reaches her fingers up to pull whatever it is from her flesh. She sees out of the corner of her eye Amy do the same. Peyton looks down at the tiny dart in between her fingers, the tip red from her blood.

She feels herself get very dizzy as whatever was in that dart enters her bloodstream. Even with two hearts still fighting to shake off whatever is coursing through her veins, she stumbles backward.

"You will be assimilated," a robotic voice says, coming from the Cyber head she assumes.

"Yeah?" Amy scoffs, ever the fighter. "You and whose body?"

Peyton isn't really sure what it means by threatening them with assimilation but her mind wanders back to the Doctor's words. 'It's like being an organ donor. Only you're alive, and screaming'. Lovely.

Almost as if on cue, a loud stamping noise can be heard, getting louder and louder. Peyton and Amy look up to see an anthropomorphic metal robot with no head and only one arm.

Peyton forgets to breathe, which she can't tell if it is a side effect of the poison or fear, as it reaches down to pick up the head before placing it on its body.

"The half-ling is not compatible. It will be deleted. The human is compatible. It will be assimilated," the Cyberman says.

Peyton and Amy look at each other, no need to guess what it means by deleted.

They both stumble backward. Amy picks up a lit torch from its bracket on the wall and waves it at the robot who is now walking toward them, arm outstretched.

Peyton could see Amy's movements being slurred, an effect of the poison she deduces. Her own vision was becoming blurry but she could tell that Amy was far more susceptible than she is.

Peyton's back hits something solid, a door. But before she can scream, it falls open behind her, letting her and Amy tumble to the ground.

The doors shut in front of them, creating a barrier between them and the Cyberman for which they feel relieved.

"Doctor?!" Peyton calls out as the Cyberman pounds against the door. She helps Amy to her feet, holding her hand as they both stare at the doors in silence.

The pounding stops. Peyton and Amy take a few cautious steps forward toward the door until they reach it, both of them pressing an ear to the door, facing each other.

A few torturous seconds pass before a blade pierces the door, right in between their faces, causing them both to scream and jump back.

The doors creak open slowly to reveal the Cyberman pinned to the door with a sword sticking out of its chest.

Then there's a Roman. Peyton squints her eyes but it does nothing to better her failing vision. His face is kind of familiar, but that might just be the poison talking. Peyton feels her knees buckle beneath her but never feels herself hit the floor.

• • •

Peyton feels it when she comes around though.

Before she opens her eyes she can tell she's sitting up, leaning against the cold stone of the room. She couldn't have fallen like this, she wasn't even near the wall before she lost consciousness. It was as if someone had propped her up against it.

She groans as she rubs her head as it pounds. She could hear voices.

"Okay, Romans, good," she hears the Doctor cheer. Peyton opens her eyes slowly and watches him and two centurions come into focus. "I was just wishing for Romans. Good old River. How many?"

"Fifty men up top, volunteers."

Peyton zones out of the conversation for a minute as she wills the pain and the ringing out of her head, stretching her back a little as she does.

"Doctor?" She croaks. He crouches down beside her and cups her face with both his hands.

"Ah, good morning, Peyton," he laughs. "Thought you'd be the first up."

He helps her get to her feet and she sees Amy lying on a stone table.

"Why is she lying up there when I was down there?" She asks, still a little groggy.

"Well, I could only catch one of you," the centurion behind her says. She spins around quickly and looks upon his face, recognizing that voice. That impossible voice.

He smiles at her with his lips pressed firmly together. Rory. She reaches her arm out slowly and her fingers brush the patterns on his armour plating. How can Rory be here? How can Rory be a centurion?

She's about to pull him into a hug as the Doctor grabs her forearm and pulls her with him. "Cyberweapons!" He points at two very large guns. "This is basically a sentry box. So headless wonder here was a sentry probably got himself duffed up by the locals. Here, Peyton,"

She has a gun pressed against her chest as she looks back over her shoulder at her friend who she thought was dead. No, not dead. Erased from time completely. He shrugs at her as if guessing what she is thinking.

"Never underestimate a Celt."

"Doctor-" Rory interrupts his thought.

"Hush, Rory, thinking."

Peyton whips her head back to look at the Doctor. Why hasn't he said anything about the elephant in the room? She's very confused and still feeling some of the after-effects of the poison.

"Why leave a Cyberman on guard?" The Doctor frowns. "Unless its a Cyberthing in the box. But why would they lock up one of their own? Okay, no, not a Cyberthing, but what, what?"

Peyton watches as Rory tries and fails to speak up as the Doctor speaks, mostly to himself.

"No, I'm missing something obvious, Peyton, Rory!" The Doctor closes his eyes in frustration. He walks back into the side room and stands right in Rory's face. "Something big, something right slap in front of me, I can feel it!"

"Yeah, I think you probably are," Rory says in a flat voice.

"I'll get it in a minute," he turns away from the centurion. "Come on, Peyton. Let's take these up to River. She loves big guns."

She follows the Doctor hesitantly, looking between him and Rory who still stands in place awkwardly.

Then the Doctor stops, throwing his gun onto the floor. He turns and slaps Peyton's out of her hands too.

He walks slowly back toward Rory, Peyton lingering by his shoulder, watching his reaction carefully.

She stands in the doorway as the Doctor approached the man they thought had been wiped from time entirely. She watches as he looks Rory up and down, obviously unsure of an explanation himself.

The Doctor places the tip of his finger in the centre of Rory's chest piece, pressing into him so Rory rocks back onto his heels. "Hello again."

"Hello," Rory nods.

"How've you been?"

"Good. Yeah, good. I mean, Roman"

"Doctor," Peyton sighs, pushing past him to stand in front of Rory, looking up into his brown eyes. "I missed you," she says as she throws her arms around his neck, even as his armour prods her uncomfortably, she clings tight to him, tears forming in her eyes.

"I missed you too, Peyton," he laughed breathily, his arms connecting around her back.

Peyton pulls away from him and studies his face curiously.

"Rory, I'm not trying to be rude, but you died," the Doctor says.

"Yeah, I know. I was there," Rory nods.

"You died, and then you were erased from time," the Doctor reiterates. "You didn't just die. You were never born at all. You never existed."

"Erased?" Rory closes his eyes briefly. "What does, that mean?"

"How can you be here?" Peyton sputters.

Rory seems at a loss for words. Opening and closing his mouth for a while. "I don't know. It's kind of fuzzy."

"Fuzzy?" The Doctor whispers.

"Well, I died and turned into a Roman. It's very distracting," Rory walks over to where Amy is lying and strokes her hair gently. "Did she miss me?"

Neither Peyton nor the Doctor say anything, sharing an unsure look with each other before looking down at the floor.

Luckily, or not, before Rory realises neither of them are willing to offer an answer, a rumbling sound comes from the main area.

The Doctor runs out first. Rory unsheathes his sword from the Cyberman, letting it fall to the ground with an ungraceful crash before he runs out alongside Peyton the meet the Doctor.

The Pandorica's circular patterns are glowing with a green light. The Doctor holds out his sonic toward it.

The room is full of Roman legionnaires who are all staring at this obviously alien technology in awe.

"What is it?" Rory asks. "What is happening?"

"The final phase," the Doctor says. "It's opening."

The Doctor walks up to it slowly and places a hand on the centre of the pattern as it moves.

Beside her, Rory rushes up the staircase but Peyton stays with the Doctor.

"Go with him, then," the Doctor stops to his knees, pulling things out of his pockets.

"What?" shes laugh. "Up there, with the Daleks and the Cybermen and who knows what else."

"You've got Rory and the Romans to protect you," he smiles cheekily. "In fact, I'm sure they'll be lining up to protect you."

Peyton rolls her eyes and turns her back on the Doctor. Mainly because she thinks he's an idiot, but also she can feel a warmth in her cheeks that she wishes she could will away.

Peyton heads to the stairs but stops at the bottom of them. "Everything will turn out okay, right?" She asks timidly.

"We'll work it out," she hears the Doctor say. "We always do."

• • •

"And then, and then! Do the smart thing! Let somebody else try first."

As the Doctor finishes his speech, she watches in amazement as the spaceships in the night sky begin fleeing out of sight one by one. Peyton laughs as she clings to Rory's forearm, warmed by the light of a torch that another centurion standing close by her is holding.

"That'll keep 'em scabbling for half an hour!" The Doctor smiles, tossing the device he used to amplify his voice at Rory who catches it, but only just.

• • •

"They're still out there. What do we do now?" Rory asks. Peyton, Rory and the Doctor have returned to the Pandorica's chamber. Partly to continue watching the box, and partly so when Amy woke up she wouldn't think everyone had disappeared on her.

"If I can stop whatever's in this box getting out, then they'll all go home," the Doctor shrugs.

Then Peyton sees her. Rory's back is towards her but Amy walks toward the three of them sleepily.

"Right. Rory, I'm sorry," the Doctor says in a low voice so Amy doesn't hear. "You're going to have to be very brave now."

Rory frowns before Amy brushes past his shoulder, barely noticing him. "My head," she groans.

The Doctor places a hand either side of her head and motions for her to open her mouth so he can look inside. "Just your basic knockout drops. Get some fresh air, you'll be fine."

He pats her on the shoulder, smiling.

"You didn't tell me to get fresh air," Peyton folds her arms grumpily. "Why does she get nice treatment?"

"Because we had an issue to deal with before," he says, eyes flickering for a moment to Rory. "Fine. You go up with her. Get fresh air together!"

"Is it safe up there?" Amy asks.

"Not remotely. But it's fresh," the Doctor winks.

Amy turns on her heel to leave and bumps into Rory. "Oh! You're the guy, yeah, the one who did the, sword thing," she says miming using a sword.

"Yeah." Peyton can almost see the heartbreak in his eyes.

"Well, thanks for the, swording. Nice swording," she pats him on the chest before walking past him toward the stairs.

"No problem," he mumbles, but only Peyton hears him. "My men are up there," he calls after her. "They'll, they'll look after you."

"Good. Love a Roman," she says without turning back to him.

Peyton looks up at Rory sympathetically before following Amy up the stairs, making sure she doesn't get into any trouble.

• • •

"I think he fancies you," Amy teases once the kindly Roman was out of earshot

"Don't be daft," Peyton scoffs. "He just wanted to make sure we were all good." She pulls the blanket she had been given earlier tighter around her. Even with a brazier of fire in front of, the chill of the English air still managed to reach them.

"He offered you his cape," she nudges Peyton with her shoulder. "That's probably Ancient Roman for 'Marry Me'."

"You know they spoke Latin right?"

"Are you okay?"

Both girls turn their heads to see Rory standing beside her, looking into the flames, or rather anywhere but her face.

"Did the Doctor send you?" Amy asks. "I'm fine, we're fine. He just fusses."

"You got a blanket. That's good," Rory attempts to make conversation. "Who gave you that?"

"One of the fellas," Amy shrugs. Peyton gives Rory a warning look.

"Which one?"

"Just one of them. Does it matter?"

Peyton clears her throat to get Rory's attention and sends him another glare.

"No," he concedes. "No. Forget him, it. Forget it." He sits on the log next to Amy. The familiar feeling of third-wheeling sets in and Peyton stares off into the distance at the flames.

"What's your name?"

"I'm, Rory." Amy doesn't respond. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just not what you'd expect Romans to be called. What's it short for? Roranicus?"

"Yeah." A few seconds of awkward silence follow. "You're crying."

This makes Peyton snap up and look at Amy. There was a single tear track running down her cheek. She wipes it off quickly. She lets out a sob.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Rory moves closer to her.

"Nothing. It's like, it's like I'm happy."

Is she remembering?

Amy starts to laugh through her tears. "Why am I happy?"

"What's the matter?" Rory frowns.

"Nothing." Peyton watches as Amy extends her fingers out to touch Rory's face. "I don't know why I'm doing that.

Rory's eyes brim with tears as he lifts his hand to cover his fianceé's. "It's me. Amy, please. It's me."

Amy stands up quickly. "But I don't know you. I've never seen you before in my life."

"You have. You know you have," Rory pleads.

"Amy, growing up. Back in Leadworth. He was there, he's our friend," Peyton reasons with her.

"No," she shakes her head. "What are you talking about? It was always you, me and Melody." Her tone of voice sounds as though she doesn't even believe herself anymore. "Why am I crying?"

"Because you remember me! I came back."

"You're crying because you remember him," Peyton places a hand on her shoulder but she shrugs her off.

Before Amy can say anything more, Rory's head drops sharply. Peyton reaches out to touch him but he slowly stands back up straight again. He seems to be looking through them rather than at them.

"Rory?" Peyton asks tentatively.

He blinks a few times before his whole body relaxes as if he didn't realise how stiffly he was standing.

"Aaargh!" He cries out as if in pain. "No! No, please, no!" He sits down on the stone again and grasps his head in his hands. "I'm not going!"

"Rory, what's going on?" Peyton watches all the other centurions abandon their shields and torches, forming a single file line to go down into the Underhenge.

"I'm Rory!" He screams.

"Rory, you're scaring me," Peyton takes a hold of Amy's arm pulling her back from Rory, ready to fight or fly.

"Listen to me. You have to run, both of you. You have to get as far away from here as you can! I'm a thing. I'll kill you, just go!"

Peyton pulls Amy backwards slowly as Rory rocks back and forth manically.

"Please, no, I don't want to go. I'm Rory! I'm, I'm-"

"Williams," Amy whispers. Both Peyton and Rory look at her amazed. "Rory Williams from Leadworth. My boyfriend." She reaches down to cup his face, bringing him to his feet. "How could I ever forget you?"

"Amy, you've got to run. Peyton, take her," Rory whispers through his tears. "I can't hold on, I'm going!"

"You are Rory Williams," she insists, grabbing him by the leather straps holding his chest plate to the rest of his armour. "And you aren't going anywhere ever again."

"Please," Rory whimpers.

"The ring. Remember the ring? You'd never let me wear it in case I lost it."

"The Doctor gave it to me," Rory sits back down again, conserving his energy but still holding Amy tight.

"Show it to me. Show me the ring."

"Amy-"

"Come on! Just show it to me."

Shakily, Rory reaches into his satchel on his belt and pulls the red box from it, flipping the box open and showing it to Amy. She looks down at it and smiles.

"There it is," Amy cradles Rory's face in her hands. "You remember. This is you. And you're staying."

The sound of a laser weapon being fired punches Peyton in the gut. Amy lurches in Rory's arms. Peyton can only see Rory's expression as she falls forward onto him and she doesn't want to believe it.

"Rory, what have you done!" Peyton chokes.

"No, no!" He cries.

"Amy!" Peyton screams as her head drops backwards, revealing to her the sight of her empty eyes as she lies limp in Rory's arms.

"Rory, what did you do?" Peyton falls to her knees as Rory lays her on the grass.

"I, I tried to fight to fight it, I swear," Rory splutters. "I didn't mean to."

He drops beside her, tears flowing freely down his face.

"I know," Peyton sobs.

• • •

There are no stars in the sky as Peyton sits on the cold grass, shoulder to shoulder with Rory Williams holding Amy Pond who lies across their laps. Dead.

Peyton assumes the Doctor is dead too, after the centurions descended she hasn't heard anything since.

She looks across at Amy's face, cradled in Rory's arms. She looks like she's sleeping, she wishes she was just sleeping.

Rory's sobs had quietened to no more than whimpers, she didn't know how a robot could produce so many tears while all hers had long dried up.

In between the silent spells like now. Peyton had asked him to tell her stories of his life as a Roman and in turn, she told him about the adventures that she, Amy, and the Doctor went on while he was gone.

He begins telling another one of his stories. The one of today. He starts at the beginning, his breakfast at the camp with Marcus and Domitus, the call for volunteers as a personal request by Cleopatra, who had been whiter than Rory imagined, and all the way up to now.

"So, the universe ended," he sighs. "You missed that. In 102 AD. I suppose this means we never get born at all."

"Twice, in your case," Peyton says, looking up at him, a weak attempt to lighten the mood.

"You would have laughed at that," Rory looks down at his fiancée, bringing a hand up to cup her cold face. "Please, laugh."

"The Doctor said the universe was huge and ridiculous, and sometimes, there were miracles. We could do with a ridiculous miracle about now," Peyton says absentmindedly.

Right on cue, as if summoned, with a fizzle of sparks the Doctor appears in front of them, holding a mop underneath his arm and wearing a strange red hat on his head.

"Peyton, Rory! Listen, she's not dead," he explains before either of them can get a word in. "Well, she is dead, but it's not the end of the world. Well, it is the end of the world. Actually, it's the end of the universe. Oh, no. Hang on!"

He touches a device on his wrist and disappears as fast as he arrived.

Neither Peyton nor Rory say anything, too shocked to even process what had just happened.

"Doctor? Doctor!" Peyton shouts as she snaps out of her daze.

As if he could hear her, the Doctor reappears in front of them. This time, missing his mop. "You need to get me out of the Pandorica."

"But you're not in the Pandorica," Rory frowns.

"Yes, I am. Well, I'm not now, but I was back then. Well, back now from your point of view, which is back then from my point of view. Time travel; you can't keep it straight in your head," he tosses Peyton his sonic. "It's easy to open from the outside, just point and press, you know the drill."

And just like that, he disappears again. Peyton looks to Rory, sure that she has the same dumbfounded expression on her face as he does on his.

"Oh, when you're done, leave my screwdriver in her top pocket," the Doctor says as he flashes before their eyes again. "Good luck."

He disappears yet again.

"What do you mean?" Rory yells into the empty night. "Done what?"

• • •

The corner of the Pandorica separates as Peyton points the screwdriver at it. Rory insisted on staying with Amy, leaving Peyton to venture down into the Pandorica's chamber alone. Scattered around are stone remnants of creatures, some of which she had never seen before. Of the ones, she recognised there is a Dalek, a Cyberman and a centurion.

As two sides of the cube slide back, the bright light of the Pandorica floods her eyes, forcing her to cover them with the back of her hand. She squints as the light becomes less focused, her eyes adjust and sees the Doctor sitting there, strapped in by metal constraints and looking at the girl in front of him curiously. The restraints fall open but the Doctor doesn't move.

"How did you do that?" His voice is croaky as if he had been yelling.

"You gave me this," Peyton shows him the sonic.

"No, I didn't," he frowns, pulling his sonic from his jacket pocket.

"You did, look at it."

The Doctor slowly rises to his feet and walks toward her curiously. With an arm outstretched, he touches his sonic with the one she holds and as their metal casings touch, a shower of sparks cascade to the floor.

"Temporal energy. The same screwdriver at different points in its own time stream," the Doctor muses. "Which means it was me who gave it to you. Me from the future. I've got a future! That's nice." His smile fades as his eye line lands on something beyond Peyton's shoulder. "That's not."

He walks toward the stone Dalek cautiously.

"What happened to it?" Peyton asks, looking at it from a distance, wary that it may spring back to life at any second.

"History has collapsed," he says. "Whole races have been deleted from existence. These are just after-images. Echoes. Fossils in time. The footprints of the never-were."

"Uh, and what does that mean?" Peyton taps her knuckles against the cold stone helmet of a Centurion.

"Total event collapse," he turns to her. "The universe literally never happened."

"So how can we be here? What's keeping _us_ safe?"

"Nothing. Eye of the storm, that's all. We're just the last light to go out." The words of the Doctor, as comforting as ever. "Where are the Ponds?"

Peyton looks at the floor and points the sonic toward the roof. "Doctor..." she tries to warn him but he snatches the sonic from her hand and bounds to the stairs and is on his way up before she can continue.

She shoves her hands in her pockets solemnly and follows him at a slow pace. She soon steps out onto the grass just as she sees the Doctor crouching down beside Rory.

"I killed her," she hears him sob.

"Oh, Rory," he sighs. Peyton sits down on the log, gazing down sadly at Amy's face.

"Doctor, what am I?" he asks, clearly afraid.

"You're a Nestene duplicate," the Doctor says. "A lump of plastic with delusions of humanity." He uses his sonic screwdriver to scan Amy's body, probably checking for any sign of life.

"But I'm Rory now," he assures him. "Whatever was happening, it's stopped. I'm Rory!"

"That's software talking," the Doctor dismisses him, looking at the readings on his sonic.

"Can you help her?" Peyton asks, trying to keep the two from having a fight. "Is there anything we can do."

"Probably, If I had the time," he sighs, getting to his feet and walking away from Amy.

"Excuse me?!" Peyton glares, affronted by the Doctor's out of character response.

"The time?!" Rory yells.

"All of creation has just been wiped from the sky. Do you know how many lives now never happened? All the people who never lived. Your girlfriend isn't more important than the whole universe."

Rory grabs the Doctor's shoulder, turning him to face him and swings a punch that knocks the ancient Time Lord to the ground. "She is to me!" He roars.

"Welcome back, Rory Williams!" The Doctor laughs as he jumps back to his feet, massaging his jaw. "Sorry, had to be sure. Hell of a gun-arm you're packing there."

"Prick," Peyton scoffs toward the Doctor. He winks at her with a smirk.

"Right, we need to get her downstairs. And take that look off your plastic face. You're getting married in the morning."

"I'm sorry, what?" Rory spins around to where the Doctor is carefully lifting Amy into a sitting position.

"Doll face," he calls before snickering at his own joke. "Get over here! I need you to carry her downstairs with us, I promise everything is going to be fine."

• • •

Rory carefully places Amy on the seat in the Pandorica.

"So, you've got a plan then?" Peyton asks as Rory steps back and the Doctor leans in to adjust Amy, putting her hands in the straps and sitting her up straight.

"Bit of a plan, yeah," he mumbles. "Memories are more powerful than you think. And Amy Pond is not an ordinary girl. Grew up with a time crack in her wall, the universe pouring through her dreams every night. The Nestenes took a memory print of her and got a bit more than they bargained for. Like you Rory, not just your face, but your heart and your soul." The Doctor presses his fingertips to Amy's temples. "I'm leaving her a message for when she wakes up so she knows what's happening."

"What do you mean 'wakes up'?" She puzzles.

The Doctor steps out of the Pandorica and uses his sonic to seal it again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?" Rory blurts.

"I'm saving her," he says after the loud boom of the Pandorica closing had rung out. "This box is the ultimate prison. You can't even escape by dying, it forces you to stay alive."

"But she's already dead," Peyton points out.

"Well, she's mostly dead," the Doctor reveals. "The Pandorica can status-lock her that way. Now, all it needs now is a scan of her living DNA and it will restore her."

"And where's it going to get that?" Peyton folds her arms.

The Doctor lifts his arm quickly to check his watch. "In about two thousand years."

"She's going to be in that box for two thousand years?" Rory says, gobsmacked.

"Yeah, but we're taking a shortcut," the Doctor says pulling something from his pocket and sliding it over his left wrist and Peyton knows exactly what it is.

"A vortex manipulator!" She exclaims, realising how the Doctor was able to visit them from the future just before.

"River's," the Doctor nods. "Rubbish way to time travel, but the universe is tiny now. We'll be fine."

"So, hang on. The future's still there then? Our world?" Rory frowns.

"A version of it, not quite the one you know. Earth alone in the sky. Let's go and have a look," the Doctor offers his arm to Peyton and Rory. "You put your hands there. Don't worry, it should be safe."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Rory says before walking back toward the Pandorica.

"She'll be fine," the Doctor assures him, patting the side of the box. "Nothing can get into this box."

"Well, you got in there," Rory scoffs.

"Well, there's only one of me. I counted."

"This box needs a guard. I killed the last one."

"No, Rory, no. Don't even think about it," the Doctor warns.

"She'll be all alone," he reasons.

"She won't feel it!"

"You bet she won't!"

"Two thousand years, Rory. You won't even sleep. You'll be conscious every second. It would drive you, mad," the Doctor cautions.

"Will she be safer if I stay?" he asks. "Look me in the eye and tell me she wouldn't be safer if I stayed."

"Rory, you-"

"Answer me!" He bellows.

"Yes, obviously," the Doctor whispers.

"Then how could I leave her?"

"Why do you have to be so, human?" The Doctor groans.

"Because right now, I'm not," Rory says darkly.

"If he's staying, so am I," Peyton walks up beside Rory and grabs his hand, she looks up at his face and he gives her a thankful smile.

"Absolutely not," the Doctor says bluntly. "He may sound human, but he's plastic, your pesky need to eat, and breath, and sleep will kill you in a century or two."

"But-"

"Not up for discussion," he grabs her other arm and pulls her away from Rory before imputing coordinates into the device on his wrist. "Rory, listen to me. This is the last bit of advice you're going to get in a very long time. You're living plastic, but not immortal. I have no idea how long you'll last. And you're not indestructible. Stay away from heat and radio signals when they come along. You can't heal or repair yourself, any damage is permanent. So for God's sake, however bored you get, stay out of trouble!"

With one last glance and a salute at Rory, Peyton places her hand on the Vortex Manipulator and she feels her body fill with electric heat before...

She falls back but the Doctor catches her forearm. She looks around at her surroundings as she steadies herself. The National Museum. She had come here many times during her childhood, but she does not recognise any of the displays around her. What she does recognise is the stone Dalek rolling toward them.

"Oh, trouble," the Doctor nods, as if unsurprised. He turns quickly and so does Peyton. The Pandorica stands proudly wide open, that definitely wasn't in the exhibit list the last time she came. Another thing that surprises her is the two Amy Ponds. One, wearing the same outfit she had died in two thousand years ago and the other was the Amelia she met when she first arrived in Leadworth all those years ago. "Ah, two of you? Complicated."

"Weapons systems restoring," the monotone voice of the Dalek sends shivers up Peyton's spine. The Doctor turns quickly and grabs the wrists of both the Amys.

"Come along, Ponds." He says before running toward another hallway off the exhibit room. Peyton follows quickly.

"What are we doing?" Amy yells as the Doctor runs into a Pharaoh's tomb exhibit.

"Well, we are running into a dead end," the Doctor says, grabbing a red hat off one of the tomb raiders. It's the same funny hat he wore when he came to tell her about the Pandorica, or rather the hat he _will_ wear. "And now I'm going to have a brilliant plan which basically involves not being in one."

"What's going on?" A mans voice echoes through the empty museum, probably the night guard. That reminded Peyton of that movie she saw with Amy not too long ago, Night at the Museum. Unfortunately, the motionless mannequins around them crush any hope of Rami Malek rising out of a Sarcophagus.

"Get out of here, Just run!" The Doctor orders and Peyton takes little Amelia's hand and runs with her down another corridor but Amy stays behind the Doctor. She groans and tugs little Amelia behind the Pandorica and out of sight before she peeks over Amy's shoulder.

"Drop the device," the Dalek orders.

"It's not a weapon. Scan it, it's not a weapon and you don't have the power to waste."

"Scans indicate intruder unarmed," it says.

"Do you think?" Peyton can't see his face but the night guard drops his torch and extends his arm toward the Dalek. Three laser blasts erupt from his hand and the Dalek screams.

"Vision impaired! Vision..." Its eyestalk drops, suggesting that it's power had been depleted but more importantly, Peyton knows who the night guard is now.

The Doctor charges forward first, screwdriver pointed at the Dalek.

Peyton and the two Amys step out from the behind the Pandorica cautiously.

"Amy!" Rory calls.

"Rory."

It had slipped her mind that Amy had forgotten and remembered him not too long ago, for her anyway. But it only took a few seconds before Amy runs into his arms joyfully.

Peyton smiles as the two embrace lovingly, finally meeting again after two millennia.

"I'm sorry," Rory apologises as he pulls away to look into her eyes. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it, it just happened."

"Oh, shut up," Amy groans before pressing her lips to his.

"Yeah, shut up," the Doctor interrupts their moment. "Cause we've got to go. Come on!"

"I waited. Two thousand years, I waited for you," Rory says, ignoring the Doctor.

"No, still shut up," she repeats, reconnecting their lips.

"And break," the Doctor whispers, staring at them curiously. Peyton reaches up to grab him by the back of the collar to pull him away from them. He stumbles back a few steps before shrugging her off. "And breathe!"

"Well, somebody didn't get out much for two thousand years," she rolls her eyes, turning away from the PDA.

"I'm thirsty. Can I get a drink?" Amelia asks, pulling on the Doctor's sleeve.

"Oh, it's all mouths today, isn't it?" The Doctor laughs, placing the fez on the little girl's head. It falls over her eyes and she giggles. She takes it off and presses it into the Doctor's chest again. He grabs a hold of it but stares off into the distance.

"What is it?" Peyton asks, very aware of the kissing noises behind her.

"The light. The light from the Pandorica, it must of hit the Dalek."

A faint whirring sound emanates from the Dalek and her muscles tighten.

"Out, out, out!" The Doctor orders. Peyton bolts out of the exhibit in the foyer. She stops and turns quickly to see two Amy ponds catching up with her while Rory and the Doctor secure the door.

"So, two thousand years. How did you do?" The Doctor turns to Rory after sonicing the door.

"Kept out of trouble."

"Oh, good," he says as he looks down at the fez in his hands as if he had forgotten about it. He places it on his head for safekeeping, causing Peyton to laugh a little. "How?"

"Unsuccessfully," Rory admits.

The Doctor looks around for something before grabbing a mop and rushing back to the doors.

"The mop!" Peyton yells, startling him. "That's how you looked at Stonehenge when you gave me your sonic."

"Ah, well, no time to lose then," the Doctor tucks the mop under his elbow and punches in coordinates into the Vortex Manipulator. With a flash, he is gone.

Both Amelia's jump back in shock but Peyton simply folds her arms, wishing the Doctor to hurry back so they're not killed by a Dalek who woke up on the wrong side of the Universe.

Another shock of sparks and the Doctor appears only to shove the mop through the handles of the door and disappear again. Peyton isn't sure how effective a wooden cleaning utensil will do at holding back a Dalek but she goes with it for now.

"How can he do that? Is he magic?" Little Amelia asks.

"Definitely," Peyton smiles.

"Right, let's go then," the Doctor says as he appears again, rushing past her and toward the stairs. "Wait!" He shouts, stopping them all. "Now I don't have the sonic. I just gave it to Peyton two thousand years ago."

He quickly sends himself back in time again leaving the four standing on the stairs.

Of course, it isn't long until he reappears. "Right then," he says before reaching into Amy's top pocket to retrieve the sonic. "Off we go!"

He starts to run before stopping himself and turning back to the group. "No, hang on. How did you know to come here?" He crouches down to look Amelia in the eye.

That is a good question. The museum is closed. She couldn't have gotten here herself. But as hard as she tries, she cannot remember a time when Amy went missing, surely she would have noticed that.

The little girl reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out a pamphlet and a piece of paper.

"Ah, my handwriting," the Doctor nods before chucking them over his shoulder and running down to the reception area. Peyton watches as he grabs a fresh pamphlet, a sticky note and a pen before disappearing back in time again,

"When is he going to quit that?" Rory asks.

"He's just showing off," Peyton scoffs.

"There you go, drink up," the Doctor says appearing with a drink in hand that he no doubt stole from the past.

"What is that? How are you doing that?" Amy frowns.

"Vortex manipulator, cheap and nasty time travel. Very bad for you. I'm trying to give it up."

"Where are we going?" Peyton asks, trying to get the Doctor back on track.

"The roof," he points to the ceiling.

With a crack, she sees double. Literally. Standing at the top of the stairs is the Doctor, frazzled and without that goddam hat.

The Doctor in front of them turns and stares up at his dopple ganger in shock.

Doctor Number Two sways for a moment before tumbling down the stairs. The first Doctor rushes after him, brandishing his screwdriver before scanning the body.

Peyton rushes to his side, looking down at the still figure on the floor. "Doctor, it's you," she chokes.

"How can it be you?" Rory asks.

The Doctor touches his twin's jaw softly as Amy asks. "Doctor, it can't be you?"

"Yeah, it's me," he says quietly. "Me from the future.

Suddenly, and causing Peyton to jump back, the second Doctor's eyes flick open and he lunges up to grab the Doctor's neck and whispers something in his ear before falling back to the linoleum floor.

No one says anything for some time. Simply staring at the unmoving body of the Doctor on the floor.

"Um. I mean, is he," Amy stammers. "Is he dead?"

"What?" The Doctor whispers absentmindedly before getting to his feet. "Dead? Yes, yes. Of course, he's dead. Right, I've got twelve minutes. That's good." He says before running to the top of the stairs

"Twelve minutes to live?" Peyton says as her throat tightens. "How is that good?!"

"Oh, you can do loads in twelve minutes," the Doctor smiles, way too nonchalant about his imminent death. "Suck a mint, buy a sledge, have a fast bath. Come on, the roof!"

"We can't leave you here, _dead_ ," Rory argues.

"Oh good! Are you in charge now? So, tell me, what are we going to do about Amelia?"

The three of companions turn their heads to the place where the young girl was just standing seconds ago, nothing but the soda cup left.

"Where'd she go?" Amy asks. The three of them rush to the bottom of the stairs and look around the deserted lobby.

"Amelia?" Rory calls.

"There is no Amelia," the Doctor says, slowly making his way down to them. "From now on there never was. History is still collapsing."

"But how can I be here, is she's not?" Amy questions.

"You're an anomaly," the Doctor explains. We all are. We're all just hanging on at the eye of the storm, but the eye is closing, and if we don't do something fast, reality will never have happened. Today, just dying is a result! Now come on!"

"He won't die," Amy insists as she and Peyton watch Rory lie his night guard jacket over the other Doctor's body. "Time can be rewritten. He'll find a way. I know he will."

"Move it!" The Doctor yells. "Come on!"

• • •

"Peyton! Amy!" River smiles as she appears at the Doctor's side, seemingly quite calm after being in a time loop inside an exploding Tardis. "And the plastic Centurion?"

"It's okay, he's on our side," the Doctor reassures her.

"Really?" River smiles before walking up to Rory. "I dated a Nestene duplicate once. Swappable heads, it did keep things fresh.

Amy looked to Rory with a cheeky grin which was met by his horrified expression. Peyton's just really feeling like a fifth wheel right now.

"Right then, I have questions," River says. "But number one is this; what in the name of sanity have you got on your head?"

"It's a fez, I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool," the Doctor gives River a suave smile but she just looks at Peyton with a sigh and a nod.

Peyton lunges forward and grabs the thing off his head, spinning quickly to throw it up into the sky while River rips her gun from its holster and shoots it as it flies above their heads.

"Oh!" The Doctor winces.

"Nice one," Peyton says as she turns back to River.

"Thank you. And I believe this is yours," she pulls Peyton's sonic pen from her pocket and tosses it at her.

_"EXTERMINATE!"_

Peyton turns quickly, shoving the pen in her pocket and see the Dalek rising up over the side of the building. 

"Run, run, move, move!" The Doctor orders, pointing toward the hatch they climbed out of before grabbing the satellite and using it as a shield.

Peyton climbs down the ladder as fast as she can, trying not to kick Amy in the face as she does so. River follows after her, then the Doctor who seals the door with his sonic screwdriver.

"Doctor, come on," River says with her gun pointed at the roof.

"Shh," he snaps. "It's moving away, finding another way in. It needs to restore its power before it can attack again. Now, that means we've got exactly," he checks his watch once he jumps to the bottom of the ladder. "Four and a half minutes before it's at lethal capacity."

"How do you know?" Peyton asks as he pushes past her.

He stops, turning back to her but unsure what to do with his hands. "Because that's when it's due to kill me."

"Kill you? What do you mean, kill you?" River frowns and the five of them begin their descent back into the museum.

"Oh, shut up. Never mind!" The Doctor brushes off the whole imminent death thing and leads them down the stairs. "How can that Dalek even exist? It was erased from time and then it came back. How?"

"You said the light from the Pandorica-"

"It's not a light," The Doctor cuts Rory off. "It's a restoration field, but _never mind_ , call it a light. That light brought Amy back, restored her. But how could it bring back a Dalek when the Daleks have never existed?"

"Okay, tell us," Amy says once they have all come to a halt behind the Doctor.

"When the Tardis blew up, it caused a total event collapse. A time explosion. And that explosion blasted every atom in every moment of the universe. Except..."

"Except inside the Pandorica," Peyton nods.

"The perfect prison. And inside it, perfectly preserved, a few billion atoms of the universe as it once was. _In theory_ , you could extrapolate the whole universe from a single one of them, like cloning a body from a single cell. And we've got the number family pack."

"No, no, too fast, I'm not getting it," Rory shakes his head.

"The box contains a memory of the universe, and the light transmits the memory and that's how we're gonna do it," the Doctor says with that all too familiar smile that so often leads into even more trouble.

"Do what?" Peyton raises an eyebrow.

"Relight the fire." As per usual, his excited face does not help the fact that he is making no sense. "Reboot the universe. Come on!" With that, he runs off.

"Doctor, you're being completely ridiculous!" River calls after him. "The Pandorica partially restored one Dalek. If it can't even reboot a single life form properly, how's it going to reboot the whole of reality?"

Peyton, Rory and Amy finally catch up to the two, cautiously keeping her distance from them, knowing their capabilities when riled up.

"What if we give it a moment of infinite power?" The Doctor stares intensely at the others. "What if we can transmit the light from the Pandorica to every particle of space and time simultaneously?"

"Well, that would be lovely, dear, but we can't, because it's completely impossible!" River rolls her eyes and plants her hands on her hips.

"Ah, no. You see, it's not," he taps her on the nose. "It's _almost_ completely impossible. One spark is all we need."

"For what?"

"Big Bang Two! Now listen-"

Unfortunately, the Doctor is not able to finish his sentence before he is hit by a beam of light and crumples to the ground.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

Peyton feels Rory's hand on her back pushing her out of the way and behind a corner with Amy as they watch River bend down to the Doctor's side.

"River, get back now!" He warns.

"Exterminate!"

Rory leans around the corner and starts shooting the Dalek out of the gun in his hand. This would be cooler if her eyes weren't swelling with tears and fixed on the Doctor's spasming body.

The sound of the Dalek powering down gives Peyton the confidence to run back to the Doctor's side, kneeling opposite River.

"Doctor! Doctor, it's me, River. Can you hear me?" River says, gently shaking his shoulders.

"Doctor?" Peyton chokes and she covers his hand with hers.

"What is it, what do you need?" River begs.

The Doctor groans and reaches his other hand over to the one Peyton's holding to enter coordinates into the Vortex manipulator.

Peyton pulls back, anticipating what's about to happen and in a flash, he is gone.

"Where did he go?" River asks, her voice barely above a whisper. "Damn it he could be anywhere."

Peyton gets to her feet. "He went downstairs. Twelve minutes ago."

"Show me!"

• • •

"Rule one, the Doctor lies," River says, stone-faced.

Peyton stares at Rory's jacket in the floor for a second longer but River seems to be in no mood for a break.

"Where's the Dalek?" Amy asks.

"It died."

Nothing more is said as they follow River down the corridor where they had first arrived at the museum. In the direction of the Pandorica.

Peyton sees him straight away. Slumped in the chair of the ancient box, unmoving.

Her walk turns into a jog, then a sprint, till she arrives a few feet from the box, staring in disbelief at the Time Lord.

"Why did he tell us he was dead?" Rory frowns.

"We were a diversion," Amy says as Peyton watches River bring her hands to the sides of his face gently. "As long as the Dalek was chasing us, he could work down here."

"Doctor, can you hear me?" River asks. "What were you doing?"

It slowly becomes uncomfortably warm, like someone has turned up the A/C, except Peyton knows there's no one left to have done it. The sound of the Tardis exploding in the sky becomes audible and its light spills more harshly into the room.

"What's happening now?" Peyton asks, a little frightened.

"Reality is collapsing," River gasps. "It's speeding up, look at this room."

Peyton turns and sees a museum void of any exhibits. Human history never happened. They are the last beings in this dying universe.

"History is being erased," Peyton says, stumbling in disbelief.

"And time is running out. Doctor, what were you doing? Tell us!" River turns her attention back to the man in the box. "Doctor!"

"Big... bang... two" 

Peyton almost misses it, but the Doctor musters enough strength to whisper those three words.

"The Big Bang?" Rory says. "That's the beginning of the universe, right?"

"What, and Big Bang Two is the bang that brings it all back?" Peyton walks back to the Doctor and tries to meet his eye but he is too weak to focus on one point. "Is that what you mean?"

"Oh," River steps back.

"What?" Amy looks up to her hopefully.

"The Tardis is still burning. It's exploding at every point in history. If you threw the Pandorica into the explosion, right into the heart of the fire-"

"Then what?" Peyton presses.

"Then let there be light. The light from the Pandorica would explode everywhere at once, just like he said."

"And that would work?" Amy asks. "That would bring everything back?"

"A restoration field, powered by an exploding Tardis, happening at every moment in history. Oh, that's brilliant. It might even work." River grabs the Doctor's sonic and points it at the Vortex manipulator which Peyton notices has been wired up to the Pandorica.

"He's wired the Vortex manipulator to the box," Peyton comments. "What's he done that for?"

"So he can take it with him," River states. "He's going to fly the Pandorica into the heart of the explosion.

• • •

Peyton couldn't bear being in that room. The tense silence, the impending death of the Doctor and the rebirth of the universe.

She wanders around the empty museum, her footsteps echoing as they land on the marble floor. 

They said they'd shout if they needed her, she'd hear it if she didn't go too far. She takes a look out one of the many windows and peers out into the nothingness. Like she'd expected something different from every other window she'd looked out of.

A loud rumbling snaps her out of her daydreams.

"It's speeding up," she hears River shout, echoing of the stone floors of the building.

Peyton turns on her heel and sprints back the way she came to the Pandorica's room. Through the empty hallways and vacant exhibits, she runs and runs and runs.

She skids to a halt at the entranceway to the room as the rings of light surround the Pandorica and with a crack of electricity, it lifts off the ground and shoots through the ceiling.

She didn't even get to say goodbye.

River's communicator beeps. "It's from the Doctor."

"What does it say?" She asks, staring at the hole in the roof.

"Geronimo."

• • •

It's a beautiful day; the first day of Universe 2.0. It had been a beautiful ceremony. Peyton had watched her two best friends get married, completely oblivious to the man who wasn't there.

She forces a smile, because that's what one does at weddings. She shouldn't be in mourning.

Peyton sits beside Amy's dad, pretending that she had met this man before. As Amy's maid of honour, she wears a beautiful purple dress and entirely uncomfortable heels that she had kicked off behind the privacy of the long table cloth.

She can't wait till this whole thing is over. Funny that, she'd been looking forward to this day for almost two years.

She wasn't really paying attention to Augustus' speech. Zoning out into space, a place, she brutally reminds herself, she'll never see again.

The sudden realisation that she's now alone in this universe crashes onto her like a wave. The last remnants of Time Lord blood in all of existence run through her veins.

"Shut up, Dad!" Amy says abruptly, getting to her feet.

"Amelia?"

"I'm sorry, but shut up, please. There's someone missing. Someone important, someone so, so important."

Peyton leans forward into the table and look at her, wild-eyed. She's remembering him. She's actually remembering him. Of course she would. She remembered Rory, she will remember the Doctor 

"Amy, what's wrong?" Rory asks.

"Shut it, Rory!" Peyton hisses, looking at her expectantly and encouraging her to go on.

"Sorry, everyone. But when I was a kid, I had an imaginary friend." She ignores the groans from her parents. "The Raggedy Doctor. My Raggedy Doctor. But he wasn't imaginary. He was real. I remember you! I remember! I brought the others back, I can bring you home, too! Raggedy man, I remember you, and you are late for my wedding!"

For a moment, nothing happens. The room is silent. But then the room fills with wind, the sound of glasses clinking together brings a smile to Peyton's face.

"I found you. I found you in words like you knew I would. That's why you told me the story, the brand new, ancient box." She continues as people begin to notice the erratic movement of the balloons and streamers. "Oh, clever. very clever."

"Amy, what is it?" Rory asks.

"Something old. Something new. Something borrowed. Something blue."

The sound of the Tardis fills their ears and Peyton gets to her feet as well. She and Amy smile at each other as the Tardis materialises in front of them.

"It's the Doctor," Peyton barely hears Rory say over the ruckus. "How did we forget the Doctor?"

Amy jumps over the table and Peyton is quick to follow her. The bride runs up and knocks on the Tardis doors. "Okay, Doctor. Did I surprise you this time?"

The door swings open. "Uh, yeah. Completely astonished."

There he is. Wearing a black suit and top hat. Their Doctor. Not a scratch on him after throwing himself into an exploding Tardis. 

"Never expected that." He pushes past the two of them and into the ballroom. "How lucky I happen to be wearing this old thing. Hello, everyone! I'm Amy's imaginary friend!" He runs over to shake Augustus Pond's hand. "But I came anyway."

"You absolutely, definitely may kiss the bride," Amy says with a smirk before running up to him but he places a finger to her lips.

"Amelia! From now on, I shall be leaving the kissing duties to the brand new, Mr Pond!"

He wipes his finger on Rory's jacket who had decided to walk around the table rather than over it as the girls had had.

"No, I'm not Mr Pond. That's not how this works," he argues.

"Yeah, it is."

"Yeah, it is."

"Right then, everyone?" The Doctor says. "I'll move my box. You're gonna need the space. Oh, and dibs on Peyton for the first dance," he sends a wink her way as he jumps into the Tardis and pulls the door shut.

• • •

Dancing with the Doctor turned out to be one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. She's pretty sure her toes are bruised for life and her head is still a little fuzzy because he insisted on spinning her every two seconds.

It wasn't hard to spot the Doctor sneaking off after the sun had fallen and she knew him well enough to follow him.

She follows at a distance until he led her to the Tardis, parked outside Amy's house where he left two years ago.

"Peyton, you're terrible at sneaking after people," he chuckles.

"When did you realise?" Peyton asks from the shadows.

"Almost immediately," he turns to her and leans against his Tardis. "But I wanted to see what you were up to."

"Why did you leave?" She asks.

"I only came for the dancing," he shrugs. "And I didn't want to hang around for the business that happens after weddings."

Peyton snickers. "You weren't going to leave me here I hope."

"I would've gotten bored soon enough and came to pick you up," he flashes her one of his charming smiles. "But since you're here, you may as well tag along."

He pushes the door open and Peyton hitches up her satin dress and hops inside.

"Did you dance?"

Peyton stops, barely two steps inside the Tardis and turns back to see River in the garden. "Well, you always dance at weddings, don't you?"

"You tell me," he smiles.

"Spoilers."

He pulls a book out of his coat, River's diary, "The writing's all back, but I didn't peek."

"Thank you," she says as she takes it from his hands.

Peyton begins to get the all too familiar feeling of third-wheeling and wonders if she should head inside or stay. Curiosity gets the better of her.

He hands her the Vortex manipulator and she straps it to her wrist slowly.

"Are you married, River?"

"Are you asking?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"No, hang on," the Doctor shakes his head. "Did you think I was asking you to marry me, or, asking. If you were married?"

"Yes."

"No, but was that 'yes', or 'yes'?"

"Yes," she whispers.

"River, who are you?"

"You're going to find out very soon now. And I'm sorry, but that's when everything changes."

With a press of a button, River disappears. Off to anywhere.

The Doctor turns back to Peyton and nods to get her to move aside to let him in the Tardis. He hangs his top hat on the coat rack and jumps up to the console.

"That was the weirdest interaction between the two weirdest people I've ever witnessed," Peyton raises an eyebrow, noting how good of a mood he's in.

"You'll understand when you're older," he teases.

"Oi!" The Tardis doors burst open and Amy Pond, followed by her new husband, walks in angrily. "Where are you two off to? We haven't even had a snog in the shrubbery yet."

"Amy!" Rory warns.

"Shut up, it's my wedding."

" _Our,_ wedding," he corrects her.

"Sorry, we shouldn't have slipped away," the Doctor apologises. "Bit busy you know."

"You just saved the whole of space and time. Take the evening off. Maybe even a bit of tomorrow!" Rory suggests.

"Space and time isn't safe yet," the Doctor explains. "The Tardis exploded for a reason. Something Drew the Tardis to this particular date and blew it up. Why? And why now?" The Tardis phone starts ringing. "The Silence, whatever it is, is still out there, and I have to... excuse me a moment." He cuts himself off to pick up the phone. "Hello?"

Peyton looks at Rory and Amy as the Doctor talks to whoever is on the other end of the line.

"Sorry, somethings come up. This will have to be goodbye," the Doctor says to the two Ponds.

"Yeah, I think it's goodbye," Amy smirks. "Do you think it's goodbye?"

"Definitely goodbye," Rory affirms.

Amy runs down to the Tardis doors before yelling into the night. "Goodbye!" 


	15. In The Tardis #3

Peyton is lost, again. All she wanted was to use the bathroom and go back to bed. She wanders the grey corridors, trying to find something familiar.

The Tardis is incredibly creepy at night. It almost sounds like the time machine is breathing. The cold hallways all look the same to her, every so often there will be a door breaking the monotonous environment. Most of them are locked.

Peyton starts to feel a little anxious. She has never been this lost before. She has been travelling in the Tardis for almost a year now, it is a little embarrassing that she is still getting lost. In fact, she hadn't gotten lost in a very long time. She begins to wander if the Tardis was purposely concealing the way back to her bedroom.

Peyton turns yet another corner and see the dim lights of the console room in the distance.

She walks hurriedly down the hall, pulling her dressing gown tighter around herself. She's ended up at the lowest entrance to the room, she looks up and sees the console through the glass floor above. To her surprise, the Doctor isn't tinkering away at the electronics of his ship anywhere in the room as she expected. Maybe he does sleep.

Peyton thinks she's hearing things, but she could swear that the console almost hums at her presence. The lights seem to brighten slowly, making the room seem less eerily lit and more inviting.

The slap of her slippers on the metal stairs cuts through the silence as she make her way up to the deck, trailing her fingers along the balustrade. Peyton smiles to herself, she's hardly up here without some form of chaos going on, it's nice to embrace the calm, almost serene atmosphere of the Tardis.

Standing by the controls of the Tardis, an overwhelming sense of clarity comes over her. Gazing down at the expanse of buttons, dials, and levers before her, Peyton's hands subconsciously come up to rest against them, careful not to apply pressure and send the Tardis into a wormhole.

The Doctor had been slowly teaching her how to fly the Tardis for a while, introducing her to a single aspect of the ancient machine at a time. But there was something different about being here, alone. The Doctor isn't peering over her shoulder or guiding her hands. An overwhelming emotion with no name surges through her body, shooting up her arms like electricity. Peyton's chest swells as if it's being pumped full of helium but her head is profoundly clear.

Peyton's lips break into a smile, drawing her hands back from the interface. She drops her left hand on the edge of the console and begins to walk around it, dancing her fingers across the metal surface. It feels right. It feels, powerful.

Peyton finds herself with her back to the stairs leading upwards and toward the bedrooms. She exhales aloud before turning to return to bed with the sight of the Doctor standing at the top of the staircase, leaning against the railing with his arms folded and smiling.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asks. He wasn't wearing his coat or his bow tie, his suspenders had been shrugged off his shoulders and hung against his thighs.

"I got lost," Peyton says sheepishly, leaning her hips back against the console. "Or maybe the Tardis got me lost."

"She has a habit of doing that," the Doctor pushes himself off the railing and he walks down the stairs toward the blonde haired girl. "Taking you not where you want to be, but where you need to be."

Peyton laughs. "River says you just say that because you can't fly her properly."

The Doctor's face tightens into one of offence. "I taught _her_ how to fly! Or, I'm going to. She has got to stop chattering in your ear, she'll turn you against me in no time."

They both laugh softly together as he comes to stand next to her, leaning as she does with their backs against the console. Their shoulders brush just slightly as they fall into a comfortable silence.

"It's the Gallifreyan blood in your veins," he muses after some time. "Your connection to the Tardis that is. It's your evolutionary call to become one with her and travel the stars. Those two hearts in your chest, they both long for it. They have all your life, haven't they, Peyton?"

She only answers with a low hum, trying to picture what it would be like to one day pilot the Tardis, as in, alone. The Doctor watching on as she does now. She wonders if she could, if the Time Lords hadn't been destroyed. Would her father be here as well, would he have taught her how to fly?

"Can you tell me something about him?" Peyton asks, snapping herself out of her train of thought. "If that's okay, I know you don't like talking about him much. But tell me about when you were kids, before he was, you know..."

Corrupted?" The Doctor supplies sadly.

"If you don't want to, that's fine-"

"You look like him, you know," he smiles melancholically. "I know I've told you before but you really, really do. The version of him who fathered you, you have the same eyes."

Peyton averts her gaze shyly but he places a hand on her forearm, bringing her attention back to him. He doesn't say anything for a while. His eyes seem to be searching her face for something, anything.

"We were friends, best friends. Koschei and I, that was the nickname I gave him. We were inseparable..."


	16. The Day the Doctor Died

The doorbell interrupts Peyton's vacant stare at the empty word document on her laptop's screen in her childhood bedroom, spurring her to push herself out of the chair and toward the door with newfound energy.

Every time that doorbell rings, she is filled with hope that this time it's the Doctor calling.

Peyton had come to a close brush with death on the last field trip the two of them took and the Doctor insisted that she take some time for herself and her family on Earth for a bit. She had, of course, argued against him but in a slightly petty retaliation, he dropped her in the south of Wales, leaving her to find her own way home to Leadworth.

That was several months ago.

Peyton opens the door, silently praying that it's him, but instead it's the postman with a few letters in hand. She thanks him as she takes them inside, closing the door behind her. Bills. Rewards card for her dad. Hang on.

The last letter. Dark blue and covered in stamps. One could say Tardis blue. She flips it over to open it. On the other side, a silver '3' is stamped, she doesn't bother with what that means right now. She tears it open, eager to look inside.

_24/04/2011_

_16:30 MDT_

_37* 0'38"N 110* 14'34"W_

She almost drops it in earnest to grab her phone and call the Ponds.

• • •

"This is it, yeah?" Amy asks as the three of them step off the bus and into the desert. "The right place?"

"Err, nowhere? Middle of?" Rory replies sarcastically.

"Howdy!"

They turn around as the bus disappears into the horizon and see a man lounging on the hood of a car, cowboy hat on his head and all. It's him.

"Doctor!" Peyton yells, unable to stop the smile from her face.

"Haha!" He laughs, jumping off the hood of the car. "It's Peyton and the Ponds!"

He runs to meet them and pulls Amy into a hug. "Pond one, Pond two, and not Pond! Hello, come here!"

"So, someone's been a busy boy then, eh?" Amy smiles, fixing the Doctor's bow tie.

"Did you see me?"

"Of course," Peyton roll her eyes.

"Stalker," he winks.

"Flirt," Amy claps back.

"Husband," Rory reminds her.

"And Rory the Roman!" He pulls Rory into a hug next.

"I'm feeling a bit left out," Peyton folds her arms and pouts teasingly.

"Miss Peyton Saxon!" He throws his arms around her shoulders as she holds onto his waist. "How has my favourite niece been?"

"It's Barrett," she scowls but can't hide her smile.

"Bit of a step down from 'space daughter'," Amy jokes.

"You're not still upset that I left you in Wales, right?" He asks, pulling away from her. 

"Bastard," Peyton says as she punches him in the shoulder. He stumbles backward, feigning pain from her half-arsed attempt at hitting him. 

They all laugh heartily. The weight of the heavy bag on Peyton's back almost disappears and she clutches her sides in pain.

"Nice hat," Rory comments once they had calmed a little.

"I wear a Stetson now. Stetsons are cool," he says, readjusting his belt.

The sound of a gunshot causes all of them to jump. The Doctor's Stetson flies off. Peyton turns to see River Song, standing cockily, blowing the tip of her gun. "Hello, Sweetie."

• • •

Peyton leans over the chair of a booth in the diner by Amy and the Doctor's heads. Rory has beat her to the seat next to River, leaving her cut out.

"Don't pout dear," River smiles at her.

"You're not my mum," Peyton rolls her eyes, but a smile manages to break through her facade.

River winks at her before taking another sip of her coffee.

"So what's happening, then?" Amy asks, fiddling with the straw of her cola. "Because you've been up to something."

"I've been running. Faster than I've ever run, and I've been running my whole life," the Doctor admits. "Now it's time for me to stop. And tonight I'm going to need you all with me."

"Okay, we're here, what's up?" Peyton asks.

"A picnic! And then a trip. Somewhere different, somewhere brand new."

"Where?" Amy smiles excitedly.

"Space, 1969."

• • •

"Salut!" They cheer, holding their glasses of wine to tap against the others.

"So, when are we going to 1969?" Rory asks.

"And since when do you drink wine?" Amy asks, tilting her glass toward the Doctor.

"I'm eleven hundred and three. I must have drunk it some time," he says before taking the bottle to his lips and tilting his head back. He spits it out almost immediately. "Oh, wine's horrid! I thought it would taste more like the gums."

They all laugh at the disgruntled Time Lord.

"Eleven hundred and three?" Peyton frowns, looking into her wine glass for a second before back to the Doctor. "You were nine hundred and eight the last time I saw you."

"And you've put on a couple of pounds. I wasn't going to mention it," the Doctor scoffs. Peyton glares at him while the other's chuckle.

But Amy doesn't. Amy is staring off into the distance.

"Who's that?" She asks.

"Who's who?" Rory raises an eyebrow. She tears her eyes away from their spot on the horizon to look at her husband. 

"Sorry, what?"

"What did you see? You said you saw someone," Rory says.

"No, I didn't," Amy says, after taking another sip of wine.

Peyton looks over to the hill where Amy was staring, there's nothing, no one there.

"Ah! The moon, look at it!" The Doctor smiles up to the sky where Peyton can indeed see the moon in the late-afternoon sky. "Of course you lot did more than look, didn't you? A big silvery thing in the sky, you couldn't resist it. Quite right."

"The moon landing was in sixty-nine," Rory says, realising something. "Is that where we're going?"

"Oh, a lot more happens in sixty-nine than anyone remembers," the Doctor says ominously. "Human beings, I thought I'd never get done saving you."

The distant sound of tires on sand makes Peyton peek up in curiosity to the top of the beach to see a silver station wagon, an old man getting out of the driver's seat.

The Doctor stands and gives him a wave which the man in turn replies.

"Doctor, who is that?" Peyton asks, noticing that they clearly know each other.

"Oh my God!" River gasps, looking back toward the lake.

Peyton turns her head too and quickly scrambles to her feet.

"What the..." She trails off.

An astronaut, not a modern one either, is standing in the lake. It seems not to be moving, but how did it get there? Peyton stumbles a step forward toward it but the Doctor places a hand on her shoulder with an uncomfortable amount of force.

"You all need to stay back. Whatever happens now, you do not interfere. Clear?"

They all nod unsurely but stay by the picnic mat as the Doctor drops his bottle of wine in the sand and makes his way toward the astronaut who meets him on the shore.

It's difficult to see what's going on, the Doctor seems to be taking to it.

It raises its arm.

Peyton screams in shock as it shoots the Doctor with a blast of green light.

"Doctor!" Amy begins to sprint toward him but Peyton, River and Rory grab her before she gets too far.

"Amy, stay back!" River yells. "The Doctor said stay back!"

"Amy, it's okay," Peyton pants, unable to hide the panic in her voice. "He's gonna..." 

Regeneration. The impossibility of a Gallifreyan.

The Doctor drops to his knees and stares at his hands, even from here Peyton can see the golden light pouring from his hands and face.

He stumbles to his feet with a renewed energy and looks toward his friends.

He throws his head back and stretches his arms to the sides. Even from Peyton's position, she can feel an uproar of wind caused by the energy he is exerting.

That's when the astronaut shoots him again. The light goes out and the Doctor crumples to the ground.

"No! Doctor!" 

Each companion on the picnic blanket scream variations of those two words and they rush to his side. The astronaut turns and heads back into the ocean.

Amy and River fall to the Time Lord's side while Peyton and Rory stand protectively over his body, eyes fixed on the retreating astronaut. It does not take long for the two of them to break however, crouching down beside him.

River pulls out her computer and scans the Doctor's chest.

"River, River?" Amy whimpers.

The solemn expression on River's face gives away the truth. The Doctor, dead in front of them.

• • •

Peyton stares at the blue envelope in her hands. River is two, she is three, Amy and Rory are four, and Mr Delaware was five.

"So where's the other one?" River asks as they enter the diner.

"You think he invited someone else," Rory frowns.

"Well, he must have. He planned all of this to the last detail," River fumbles with the Pond's and her own envelope.

"What is he, was he, up to?" Peyton runs her fingers along the side of the envelope, feeling it's sharply folded corners as it grazes her skin.

"Space, 1969, what did he mean?" River closed her eyes tight, trying to reach for any possible idea or reasoning.

"You're still talking but it doesn't matter," Amy snaps at them. Peyton walks over to her and places a hand on top of hers but she snatches it away from her.

"Hey, it mattered to him," Peyton says.

"So it matters to us," River backs her up.

"He's dead," Amy whispers.

"But he still needs us," River takes a few slow steps toward them. "I know, Amy, I know. But right now we need to focus."

Peyton breaks away from her and leans her head on Rory's shoulder. She closes her eyes but the image of the Doctor's burning body is the only thing she sees.

A brutal reminder that she is alone. The last Time Lord.

Peyton snaps her eyes open and sigh, Rory rubs her shoulder.

Her eyes fall on one of the tables in the diner, no intention behind it other than to stare blankly until River finds a way to fix the situation but she sees something that catches her eye. A blue piece of paper lying on the furthest table. Tardis blue.

"Look," she gasps, catching the group's attention.

It takes little over a second for her to cross the diner and pick up the envelope and eye the silver lettering on the cover. 1.

"Excuse me, who was sitting over there?" Rory turns and asks the man behind the counter.

"Just some guy."

River catches up to Peyton and places a hand on her back and carefully takes the envelope from her hand.

"The Doctor knew he was going to his death," River says. "So he sent out messages. When you know it's the end, who do you call?"

"Your friends, people you trust," Rory suggests.

"Number one," she holds up the envelope. "Who did the Doctor trust the most."

In Peyton's time travelling with the Doctor, she had gained little insight into who he trusted. River obviously, she knew his future and was probably his lover at some point, as much as he denied it. Amy, Rory and herself were his friends and she was sure he trusted her. But the ancient man did not give any hint at there being somebody else in his life that he trusted. He had told her that he was the last of their people, all long lost to the Time War. So who was it that he could trust so much?

The creaking of the heavy door at the back of the diner caught the interest of Peyton's ears. It was more of an unconscious reaction, just her over-analytically responding to anything in the vicinity.

But it's the man who emerges. The tweed coat, the stiff shoes. That bloody bow tie. He has a straw in his mouth and she can see the blue light of the Tardis windows behind him.

The Doctor.

She is sure the feeling of horror and disbelief was mutual among the four of them who weren't supposed to be dead. Peyton wants to yell at him, to sob, to hit him, to laugh. But she settles on a vacant stare.

He smiles widely and points at the group of them, as if he is oblivious. This is a cruel joke.

"This is cold," River manages in barely more than a whisper. "Even by your standards, this is cold."

"Or hello, as people used to say," he chuckles.

"Doctor?" Amy stammers.

"Just popped out to get my special straw. It adds more fizz," the Doctor explains, as if that could possibly be the answer they're looking for.

Peyton and Amy walk up to the man together, looking him up and down. Amy's fingers touch his chest as she circles around him. "You're okay. How can you possibly be okay?"

"Hey, 'course I'm okay," he says worriedly, pulling her in a hug. "I'm always okay. I'm the king of okay. Oh, that's a rubbish title, forget that title. Now, Rory the Roman!" he releases Amy and pushes past Peyton to engulf Rory in his arms. "That's a good title."

He lets go of Rory and spins on his heel to face Peyton. "And Peyton!" he grabs her hand, raising it above her head to twirl her before pulling her into a tight hug. He smells like fresh laundry, greasy diner food and something inexplicably him. Her arms wrap around his middle cautiously, still unbelieving that he is even there. "Hope you haven't gotten into too much trouble since I last saw you. Sorry about Wales."

He pulls away and pats her cheek with a wild grin on his face before whipping his head around to River, who he walks toward slowly.

"Doctor River Song. Oh, you bad, bad girl. What trouble have you got for me this time?" He whispers, she assumes that's his attempt at flirting.

Stone-faced, River slaps the Doctor across the face harshly, creating a sound that makes all in the room cringe.

"Okay," the Doctor gasps after a few seconds of stunned silence. "I'm assuming that's for something I haven't done yet."

"Yes, it is," River replies, she can hear in her voice that she's a second away from either yelling or crying.

"Good, looking forward to it."

"I don't understand," Rory blurts out. "How can you be here?" He raises his index finger and presses it to the Doctor's chest.

"I was invited," the Doctor answers, clearly a little confused. He snatches his invitation from River's hand. "Date, map reference. Same as you lot, I assume, otherwise, it's a hell of a coincidence."

"River, what's going on?" Peyton asks.

"Peyton, ask him what age he is," River instructs.

"That's a bit personal," the Doctor says before biting down on the end of his straw.

"Tell her. Tell her what age you are," River orders.

"Nine hundred and nine," he frowns.

Not an hour ago this man said he was eleven hundred and three. If she hadn't spent the last year of her life travelling in a time machine, she would say it was impossible.

But the one who the Doctor trusts the most. He invited his younger self. But why?

"But you said-"

"So where does that leave us? Jim the Fish? Have we done Jim the Fish yet?" River interrupts Amy, staring intensely at the Doctor.

"Who's Jim the Fish?" The Doctor asks, his eyes lighting up excitedly.

"I don't understand," Amy shakes her head.

"Yeah you do," Rory looks at her, trying to say what was on all of their minds without saying a word.

" _I_ don't! What are we all doing here?" The Doctor raises his voice a little, frowning at the interaction between Rory and Amy.

Silence. What could Peyton possibly say? She can't tell him he's going to die. She's sure that's against one of his rules. And even then, how does anyone tell someone something like that?

"We've been recruited," River thinks quickly. "Something to do with space, 1969, and a man called Canton Everett Delaware the third."

"Recruited by who?" The Doctor asks, walking away from them slowly.

"Someone who trusts you more than anybody else in the universe," River says.

"And who's that?" He turns around and raises his eyebrows, lowering the straw from his mouth.

"Spoilers."

• • •

"1969, that's an easy one. Funny how some years are easy. Now, 1482, full of glitches. Now then, Canton Everett Delaware the third, that was his name, yeah? How many of those can there be? Well, three, I suppose."

There was a weird energy around the five travellers when they piled into the Tardis. The three and a half humans stand around the edge of the glass platform, leaning against the railings, silently mulling over the events of the last hour while the overly energetic Time Lord runs around flipping switches and pressing buttons.

Peyton's gaze is fixed on a particular flashing light on the console, unbroken as she stews in their dilemma.

How are they supposed to figure out what the Doctor wanted them to do when he's dead, but the version of him in front of them has no idea yet of what is to come? Do they tell him that they're solving his murder? Or do they expect him to blindly follow instructions from an unknown and possibly untrustworthy source?

Peyton's stare is broken by Amy who storms down from the console, closely followed by River, then Rory.

"Peyton, is everybody cross with me for some reason?"

"I'll find out," she gets to her feet, unable to meet his eye, and heads to the staircase that River and the Ponds disappeared down without looking back at the Doctor. She know that everyone ignoring him probably is confusing to him right now, but it hurts too much to face him.

She finds Amy sitting against the base of the console while River and Rory stand in front of her.

"Explain it again." She hears Amy's request.

"The Doctor we saw on the beach is a future version, two hundred years older than the one up there," River says in a hushed voice.

"But all that's still going to happen? He's still going to die?"

"We're all going to do that, Amy."

"We're not all going to arrange our own wake and invite ourselves," Rory snaps bitterly.

"The Doctor, in the future, knowing he's going to die recruits his younger self and all of us, to do what exactly?" Peyton adds to the conversation. "Avenge him?"

"Avenging's not his style," River shakes her head.

"Save him," Amy suggests hopefully.

"That's not his style either," Peyton sighs.

"We have to tell him," Amy says, getting to her feet.

"We've told him all we can," River says firmly. "We can't even tell him we've seen his future self. He's interacted with his own past. It could rip a hole in the universe."

"Except he's done it before," Amy reasons.

"And if I recall, the universe did sort of blow up," Rory reminds her.

"But he'd want to know!" Amy hisses.

"Would he? Would anyone?"

Peyton's blood runs cold as the Doctor's head appears upside down, leaning precariously off the side of the console floor. "I'm being extremely clever up here, and there's no one to stand around, looking impressed. What's the point in having you all?"

He pushes himself out of view and hopefully out of earshot.

"Couldn't you just slap him sometimes?" River rolls her eyes in frustration. She turns to join him up at the console.

"River, we can't just let him die." Amy's broken voice stops River from taking another step. She turns and looks back to the red-haired girl, looking so small and frightened against the harsh lights. "We have to stop it. How can you be okay with this?"

"The Doctor's death doesn't frighten me, nor does my own. There's a far worse day coming for me."

• • •

The Doctor taps the monitor as they all gather round to see what the Tardis has found, or rather where, or maybe when.

"Washington DC, April 8th, 1969," Amy reads aloud. "So why haven't we landed?"

"Because that's not where we're going," the Doctor says.

"Then, where _are_ we going?" Peyton asks, golfing her arms.

"Home!" The Doctor exclaims. "Well, you three are. Ponds, off you pop and make babies. Peyton, don't go investigating into anything dangerous and make me come to save you. And you Doctor Song," he taps her nose and begins walking around the console. "Back to prison. And me, I'm late for a biplane lesson in 1911, or it could be knitting. Knitting or biplanes, one or the other." He slumps down into the beige seat on the other side of the platform, crossing one leg over the other and furrowing his brow in his hand.

Peyton walks around to him, slowly and cautiously, unsure of what he's doing.

He looks up at them with a tired expression. "What? A mysterious summons? You think I'm just going to go?"

Peyton makes eye contact with River and then Rory as she tries to find the words to convince him to go.

"Who sent those messages? I know you all know. I can see it in your faces. Don't play games with me. Don't ever, ever think you're capable of that," he says. His eyes bore into Peyton's and she feel as though he is searching her with only his pupils. His hazel eyes, though often so soft and inviting were now dark and menacing.

"You're going to have to trust us this time," River says slowly.

"Trust you? Sure," he gets to his feet with a sarcastic smile and makes his way over to her. "But first of all, Doctor Song, just one thing, who are you?"

River does not answer but stares defiantly into his eyes.

"You're someone from my future, I'm getting that, but who?"

No response.

"Okay. Why are you in prison? Who did you kill? Hmm? Now, I love a bad girl, me, but trust you? Seriously?"

"What about me? Can you trust me?" Peyton asks, mostly just to save River from the Doctor's interrogating gaze.

He cocks his head in her direction.

"I know just as much about you as I do Doctor Song. The child of my nemesis, probably put on Earth to foil me in some way, even if you don't know it yet. How Time Lord are you? And how did you even survive? Time Lord and Human DNA don't mix, and yet here you are."

Peyton opens her mouth to argue but he raises his hand to warn her not to.

"Then trust me," Amy grabs Peyton's hand, pulling her back a little.

"Okay," he says, interested, he walks toward her, not looking in Peyton's direction at all.

"You have to do this, and you can't ask why," she says in a quiet voice.

"Are you being threatened? Is someone making you say that?" He asks, concerned.

"No."

"You're lying."

"I'm not lying."

"Swear to me. Swear to me on something that matters," he says lowly.

There's silence as the Doctor and Amy stare at each other, neither one willing to break.

"Fish fingers and custard," she promises.

The silence is deafening as they wait for the Doctor's reply. Amy's fingers are still tightly wrapped around Peyton's hand as she looks up into the eyes of the ancient man before here.

"My life in your hands, Amelia Pond," he whispers finally.

He backs away slowly and Amy's grip on Peyton loosens.

"Thank you," River smiles at the two girls, Peyton sends her a meek smile back.

"So!" The Doctor yells, a quick change of pace not unusual to the Doctor but still manages to make Peyton jump anyway. "Canton Everett Delaware the third! Who's he?"

River walks around to the monitor and looks up at it. "Ex-FBI, got kicked out."

"Why?" The Doctor asks. River shrugs.

"Six weeks after he left the Bureau, the President contacted him for a private meeting."

"Yeah, 1969, who's president?" The Doctor asks.

"Richard Milhous Nixon," Peyton recalls. Half an alien brain was sure useful for holding information. "Vietnam, Watergate, need I go on?"

The Doctor doesn't even look at her.

"There's some good stuff too," River offers.

"Not enough."

"Hippy!" She teases.

"Archaeologist," he pokes back.

Peyton frowns, feeling a little ignored by the Doctor. Why was he avoiding her? He was the one who said all that hurtful stuff. She wants to reason that he didn't mean it, but with how he is acting, she isn't even sure.

"Okay, since I don't know what I'm getting into, this time, for once I'm being discreet, putting the engines on silent," he smiles like a small child coming up with a clever idea. He flips a lever and a horrible screeching sound fills the Tardis.

While Peyton covers her ears, River rolls her eyes and pushes the lever back.

"Did you do something?" The Doctor sticks his head back around to River's side, looking at his four companions with a concerned look.

"No, just, watching," River assures him sweetly.

"Putting the outer shell on invisible," he ducks back around the other side of the console. "Haven't done this in a while, a big drain on the power."

"You can turn the Tardis invisible?" Rory asks.

"Ha!" The Doctor says with the press of a button, turning up the brightness of the lights in the room.

"Very nearly," River sighs, pressing the button again, the lights returning to normal.

"Uh, did you touch something?" The Doctor asks again.

"Just admiring your skills, sweetie," River lies.

"Good! You might learn something," he says, very impressed with himself.

"Take notes," River nods in Peyton's direction. "This will be you one day."

"Now, I can't check the scanner, it doesn't work when we're cloaked," the Doctor frowns, adjusting the knobs on the monitor. "Um, just give us a mo."

He runs toward the doors and as she so often has, Peyton follows, along with the Ponds and River. "Whoa, Who's, whoa, whoa, you lot, wait a moment," he says, turning to face them. "We're in the middle of the most powerful city, in the most powerful country on Earth." He opens the door. "Let's take it slow."

He ducks out, leaving the four of them in the Tardis. They walk back up to the flight deck.

"Arrogant bastard," River rolls her eyes before slumping against the railing.

"Well, what do we do now?" Rory asks. "Wait for him to come back?"

"Or get himself killed, again," Amy scoffs.

Nobody has anything more to say, Amy falls down into the leather chair and pulls out her phone, Rory jumps up the stairs and stands next to her, looking a little lost.

Peyton pushes herself up to sit on the railing, resting her feet on the lowest rung and letting her hands rest beside her.

The warmth of River's hand covers one of Peyton's and she looks at the girl sympathetically. "He's a bit insensitive, that man. He didn't mean what he said."

"And how do you know that?" Peyton sighs. "It sure sounded like he did."

"Believe me," she runs the pad of her thumb over the back of Peyton's hand. "You'll see soon enough."

"You say you're from his future, but how can he have a future with you if he treats you like that," Peyton raises an eyebrow.

She laughs silently at that. "He's doesn't know who I am and that scares him. Soon he'll know too, dear."

"He said he doesn't know who I am either," Peyton looks down and watches River's thumb trace a circular pattern onto her hand. "So in the future, do you know who I am, what I am?"

River pats Peyton's arm lightly and walks toward the console, adjusting her denim jacket as she does.

A loud bang causes the entire room to shake and Peyton is thrown off her perch, thankfully landing on her feet.

"Every time," River groans.

"What just happened?" Amy asks.

"The fool probably ran into the Tardis," she shakes her head, grabbing the monitor.

"He said the scanner wouldn't work," Rory frowns.

"I know," she swings it around so they all can see the screen. "Bless." She connects a wire to it that creates a shower of sparks.

She adjusts the knobs and they all lean in close.

An image appears of the Doctor being pinned to the floor by several men in suits.

"River! Have you got my scanner working?" The crackly voice of the Doctor groans through the speakers.

"Oh, I hate him," she rolls her eyes.

"No, you don't!" The Doctor yells, obviously anticipating River's comment despite being unable to hear it. There's yelling in the background. "River, make her blue again!"

River quickly jumps into action, leaning across the console to pull two levers before standing back to watch the monitor.

Peyton sees the very surprised faces of the Americans in suits and she can't help but laugh a little bit.

"So, do we get to go say 'howdy' now?" Amy asks.

"No, we wait for the Doctor," River insists. She looks back to the screen and sees the men now holding the Doctor at gunpoint. "Change of plan, we wait for me."

She marches down to the door, Peyton follows close behind. She opens the door quietly and she hears a snippet of the conversation.

"You think you can just shoot me?" The Doctor asks, sitting in the president's chair with his feet up on the desk.

"They're Americans!" River yells, throwing the door open. All the guns are on her now.

"Don't shoot, definitely no shooting!" The Doctor jumps to his feet in a panic.

"Definitely don't shoot us either," Peyton calls as she steps out of the Tardis with her hands up. "Very much not in need of getting shot."

"Look, we've got our hands up," Rory adds as he and his wife step into the Oval Office.

"Who the hell are you?" The President demands. The President seems a little younger in real life than he does in his photos but Peyton can tell it's him none the less.

"Sir, you need to stand back," the only man in a brown jacket says. Peyton catches a glimpse of his face, she saw it not five minutes ago on the monitor when the Tardis was trying to find the Delaware man. Before her is the younger version of the man she saw on the beach. Number Five. He brought the gasoline, he knew. 

"But who, who are they? What is that box?" The President insists.

"It's a Police Box, can't you read?" The Doctor says, a little offended. He lowers his hands a little. "I'm your new undercover agent, on loan from Scotland Yard. Code name: The Doctor. These are my top operatives; The Legs, The Nose, Blondie Number... I don't know, I've lost track, and Mrs Robinson."

"I hate you," River mutters under her breath.

Peyton adds a glare in his direction too, though it falls unseen by him as he eyes the guns still trained on him. Blondie Number What? She catches herself being angry at the stupid nickname, as if that really matters.

"No you don't," he smirks.

"Who are you?" Nixon asks again.

"Boring question. Who's phoning you, that's interesting. 'Cause Canton Three is right, that was definitely a girls voice. Which means there's only one place in America she can be phoning from." The Doctor, as always, not only has every weapon in the room on him, but also everyone's attention.

"Where?" Canton asks flatly.

"Do not engage with the intruder, Mr Delaware," one of the security men warns.

"You heard everything I heard, it's simple enough. Give me five minutes and I'll explain," the Doctor offers, sitting back down calmly and kicks his feet back up. "On the other hand, lay a finger on me, or my friends, and you'll never, ever know."

"How'd you get it in here?" Canton asks, clearly a little distracted. "I mean, you didn't carry it."

"Clever, aye?" The Doctor nods in his direction

"Love it."

"Do not compliment the intruder!" The same security man chastises him again.

"Five minutes?" Canton confirms.

"Five," the Doctor promises.

"Mr President, that man is a clear and present danger-"

"Mr President, that man walked in here with a big blue box and four of his friends and that's the man he walked past. One of them's worth listening to," Canton interjects. "What say we give him five minutes, see if he delivers."

"Thanks, Canton," The Doctor smiles.

"If he doesn't, I'll shoot him myself."

The smile quickly drops from the Doctor's face. "Not so thanks."

"Sir, I can't recommend-"

"Shut up, Mr Peterson," Nixon orders. "Alright, five minutes."

The gun pointed at Peyton's head lowers slowly and she brings her arms back to her sides at the same pace. She exhales a breath she didn't realise she was holding and looks to Amy and Rory to make sure they're okay as well.

"I'm going to need a SWAT team ready to mobilise, street-level maps covering all of Florida, a pot of coffee, twelve Jammy Dodgers and a fez," the Doctor looks up at the President expectantly.

"Get him his maps," Canton orders.

• • •

Peyton sits on the floor of the Oval Office staring at the same map she's been holdinh for the past five minutes.

Once all the guns had been put down, the Doctor had requested that the recording be played again. When Amy asked what they were supposed to be looking for as he shoved an armful of maps into her hand he just kept muttering to himself; "Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton."

The map of Glades county seemed to be ever-changing before her tired eyes. She rubs them meekly, trying to focus.

Jefferson. Adams. Hamilton.

Landmarks? People? Hang on, street names?

"Why Florida?" Canton asks, breaking the studious silence in the room.

"That's where NASA is," The Doctor replies. "She mentioned a space man. NASA's where the space men live. Also, there's another lead I'm following."

"Space man," Amy whispers in Peyton's ear, crouching down beside her, making her jump. She is certain Amy was sitting on one of the couches a second ago. "Like the one we saw at the lake?"

"Maybe," Peyton shrugs, looking up at the oblivious Doctor across the room.

"Probably," River says, getting to her feet after obviously eavesdropping on their conversation. Amy stands to return to her post but stops in her tracks. Peyton assumes she's going to add  
something but she doesn't.

Peyton looks up at the red-haired girl. Her eyes are fixed on something across the room.

"I remember," she whispers. 

Peyton moves to follow her gaze but Rory steps in the way. She leans around him but there's nothing out of the ordinary there.

"Remember what?" He asks.

"Nothing, I just..." she jerks her hand to her stomach, leaning over a bit.

"Amy, what's wrong?" Rory frowns.

Peyton slowly gets to her feet as well. "Amy?"

"You alright?" The Doctor asks as he walks by with another map.

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. I'm just, feeling a little sick," she brushes past her husband toward one of the guards standing at the door. "Excuse me, is there a toilet or something?"

"Sorry ma'am, while this procedure is ongoing, you must remain within the Oval Office," he says.

"Shut up and take her to the restroom," Canton snaps.

"This way, ma'am," the other guard nods. Peyton and Rory both make a move to follow her but the remaining guard blocks their path, staring intently as if daring them to make another move. They both take the hint and back off.

• • •

"Your five minutes are up," Canton says across the room to the Doctor, who is still pouring over his map.

"Yeah, and where's my fez?" He snarks back.

Peyton sits down next to Rory and peers over his shoulder at the map he picks up.

A phone starts ringing.

"The kid?" Canton asks.

"Should I answer it?" Mr Nixon hovers his hand over it cautiously.

"Here!" The Doctor shouts, prodding his map with his finger. "The only place in the United States that call could be coming from."

Peyton pushes herself off the couch to see where the Doctor is pointing.

"See? Obvious when you think about it," he shrugs.

Out of the corner of her eye, Peyton sees Amy and the brown-haired guard re-enter the room.

River unintentionally blocks Peyton's view of the map as Canton leans over. "You, sir, are a genius."

"It's a hobby."

"Mr President, answer the phone," Canton says.

Nobody dares say a word, no one dares to breathe as Richard Nixon picks up the turquoise handset and sets the machine next to it to record. "Hello. This is President Nixon."

"It's here!" The faint voice of a child can be heard through the box recording the conversation. "The Space man's here. It's gonna get me! It's gonna eat me!"

"There's no time for a SWAT team, let's go," the Doctor pushes past Peyton to grab his jacket off the back of a chair and he swings it around his shoulders.

"Come on," River mutters in Peyton's ear, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the Tardis.

"Mr President, tell her help's on the way. Canton, on no account, follow me into this box and close the door behind you," the Doctor says before following Amy into the time machine hastily.

"What the hell are you doing?" Peyton hears Canton yell.

Peyton grabs the railing as the Doctor and River get the Tardis into flight. This feeling will never get old.

"Jefferson isn't a girl's name, or her name either," the Doctor says. "Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton. River?"

"Surnames of three of America's founding fathers," she answers.

"Lovely fellas, two of them fancied me," the Doctor smirks.

Out of the corner of her eye, Peyton sees Rory talking to a bewildered Canton by the door.

"You see, the President asked the child two questions: 'where are you?' and 'who are you?' She was answering _where._ Now, where would you find three big historical names in a row like that?"

"Where?" Amy asks.

"Here! Come on!" The Tardis lands with a thud and they all run to the door.

Canton stands in the way and places a hand on the Doctor's chest to stop him. "It's, er..."

"Are you taking care of this?" The Doctor asks Rory before pushing past Canton and leading them outside.

"Why is it always my turn!" Rory groans.

They find themselves in a messy office of sorts. The only light is pouring out from the Tardis and creeping in through the windows from the streetlights.

"Where are we?" Peyton asks.

"About five miles from Cape Kennedy Space Centre," the Doctor says without looking at her, waving a small American flag he found o the distressed desk. "It's 1969, the year of the Moon. Interesting, don't you think?"

"But why would a little girl be here?" Amy looks around using a flashlight River thrust into her hand.

"I don't know. Lost, maybe," the Doctor places the flag back on the desk. River picks up a discarded phone next to it. The Doctor stands. "The President asked the girl where she was and she did what any lost little girl would do. She looked out the window." He peers through the blinds and the signpost outside which Peyton gathers features the names of the three founding fathers in question.

"Streets. Of course, street names," she smiles.

"The only place in Florida, probably all of America, with those three street names on the same junction," he again fails to acknowledge her. "And Doctor Song, you've got that face on again."

"What face?" She raises an eyebrow.

"The 'he's hot when he's clever' face," he smirks.

"This is my normal face."

"Yes, it is."

"Oh shut up."

"Not a chance."

Peyton and Amy share a significant look of disgust at the two time travellers.

The Tardis door creaks open and Canton stumbles out. "We've moved. How, how can we have moved?"

"You haven't even gotten to space travel yet?" The Doctor chuckles at him.

"I was _going_ to cover it with time travel," Rory glares at the Doctor as he appears from the box, closing the door behind him.

"Time travel?" Canton stammers.

"Braveheart, Canton. Come on!" The Doctor spins on his heel and leads the group further into the building.

"It's a warehouse of some kind," River turns on another flashlight and shines it around. "Disused."

"You realise this is almost certainly a trap, of course," the Doctor says calmly.

"I noticed the phone, yes," River says just as calmly.

The whole idea of this being a trap is putting Peyton on an edge that the two clearly don't seem bothered by.

"What about it?" Amy says quietly.

"It was cut off. So how did the child phone from here?" River answered.

"Okay, but why would anyone want to trap us?" She asks a follow-up question.

"Don't know," the Doctor shrugs. "Let's see if anyone tries to kill us, and work backward.

As they continue to wander through the warehouse the feeling of unsettlement continues to grow in the form of goosebumps on the back of Peyton's neck. She shivers involuntarily and Amy reaches for her hand.

"Now why would a little girl be here?" River shines the light on a broken control panel before scanning it across the room.

"I don't know. Let's find her and ask her," the Doctor suggests.

River's flashlight stops, illuminating some sort of machine, definitely fallen into disrepair but still very strange looking.

"It's non-terrestrial, definitely alien. Probably not even from this time zone," River deduces.

"Which is odd," the Doctor walks over to a bench filled with definitely human and definitely 1960s technology. "Because look at this!"

"Earth technology, contemporary," Peyton notes her own deductions.

"Very contemporary, cutting edge!" The Doctor says excitedly, picking up a space helmet from a crate. "This is from the space program!"

"Stolen?" River frowns.

"What, by aliens?" Amy stares at the helmet conspicuously.

"Apparently," the Doctor shrugs.

"But why? If you can make it to Earth, why steal technology that can barely make it to the moon?" Peyton scoffs.

"Maybe 'cause it's cooler!" The Doctor laughs, putting on the helmet. He flips up the visor. "Look how cool this stuff is!"

She gets an unwelcome flashback to the beach, to the astronaut that killed him.

"Cool aliens?" Amy chuckles sarcastically.

"Well, what would you call me?"

"An alien."

"Oi!"

"I, uh, I think he's okay now," Rory appears with Canton. Peyton was beginning to worry about them for a minute.

"Ah, back with us, Canton?" The Doctor cheers, taking off the helmet and discarding it where he found it.

"I like your wheels," Canton replies, staring at the alien machine with his flashlight trained on it.

"That's my boy!" The Doctor slaps him on the shoulder. "So come on. Little girl. Let's find her."

• • •

"River..." Peyton trails off before she can finish her sentence. She doesn't even know how to say it.

"I know what you're thinking," she replies, picking up a tube from the machine covered in some sort of gunk.

"No you don't," Peyton shakes her head.

"You're thinking if we can find the Space Man in 1969, and neutralise it, then it won't be around in 2011 to kill the Doctor."

"That's exactly what I was thinking too," Amy confesses, standing across the other side of the machine.

"Okay, lucky guess," Peyton looks away.

"It's only because I was thinking it too," River admits. The three exchange unsure glances.

"So let's do it," Amy says in a hushed voice.

"It doesn't work like that," River says. "We came here because of what we saw in the future. If we try and prevent the future from happening, we create a paradox."

"Time can be rewritten," Peyton insists.

"Not all of it," River shakes her head, looking down at her scanner.

"Says who?" Amy challenges.

"Who do you think?" She sighs. "What's this?"

River's torch follows one of the tubes, leading toward a manhole left slightly ajar.

"We can still save him," Amy whispers.

"Doctor," River ignores her. "Look at this. The Time Lord appears at their side, peering down at River as she pushes the heavy metal cover aside to reveal a dark hole with a ladder.

"So where does that go?" He asks, taking a step forward and peering down into it.

"There's a network of tunnels running under here," River reads from her scanner.

"Life signs?" The Doctor asks.

"No, nothing that's showing up."

"Those are the worst kind," he says. River pops her scanner in its pouch on her belt and hops onto the ladder in the hole. "Be careful!"

"Careful? Tried that once, ever so dull," she smirks.

"Shout if you get into trouble," he bends down to look her in the eye.

"Don't worry, I'm quite the screamer," she teases before descending into the tunnels. "Now there's a spoiler for you."

"Gross," Peyton mumbles to herself.

"So what's going on here?" Canton asks.

"Uh, nothing. She's just a friend," the Doctor panics.

"I think he's talking about the possible alien incursion," Rory leans toward the Doctor.

"Okay!" The Doctor sighs in relief and places a hand on Rory and Canton's shoulders before walking past the girls. "Split up, search this stuff. Amy, Canton. Rory, Peyton. Shout if you find anything, or if something tries to kill you."

Peyton links arms with Rory and wanders over to a bench covered in seemingly human trinkets.

"Surgical equipment," Rory says and he shines his flashlight over the items.

"Hmm?" She looks up at him expectantly.

"This is all stuff you'd find in a hospital. Syringe, tweezers, scalpel. A bunch of stuff," Rory bends down to get a closer look.

"All clear!" River appears from the manhole. "Just tunnels, nothing down there I can see. Uh, give me five minutes, I want to take another look around."

"Stupidly dangerous!" The Doctor warns.

"Yep, I like it too. Amy, look after him." She disappears back down and Peyton hears the heavy footsteps of the Doctor approaching behind her.

"Peyton, would you mind going with her?" He asks softly.

"Yeah, a bit," she scoffs without looking up at him, pretending to be interested in the surgical tools Rory is showing her.

"Peyton, are you angry with me?" He places a hand tentatively on her shoulder. At his touch she spins around to face him, knocking his hand away from her.

"You've been avoiding me! All those things you said on the Tardis. Did you mean them?" She asks in a hushed voice even though she can feel everyone in the room's eyes on them.

"I'm sorry, Peyton," he lowers his head. "I was stressed, I was a little scared. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"Damn right you shouldn't have," she looks pointedly back at the equipment, her eyes getting a bit too damp for her liking. "So you didn't mean what you said?"

"What can I do to make it right?" He asks, however, Peyton notices that he avoided the question, but really, what should she expect from him. 

"Some grovelling, for a start," she jests. 

"Oh, my Peyton Barrett," he pulls her close, wrapping his thin arms around her. He presses a light kiss in her hair. "It would take a lot more than your father to stop me caring about you."

"Sap," she teases, shoving him away, and folding her arms looking the Time Lord up and down. 

"Feisty. Also, just for the record, you're blondie number six." 

"Shut up."

She looks up into his eyes a moment longer. "Hang on, River. I'm coming too." She calls before grabbing the flashlight out of the Doctor's hand and heading toward the manhole. She hasn't quite forgiven him, but she is slowly learning that despite the Doctor's shortcomings, perhaps listening to him is the the surest way to stay alive.

As Peyton lowers herself down, the freezing metal gives her hands a near burning sensation and as her feet touch the ground, the slap of water against concrete makes her glad she wore faux leather boots instead of sneakers.

She looks around at her surroundings. The tunnels are made of brick, not what she was expecting at all, and beyond a hole in the wall, she sees River leaning against the brick, panting slightly.

"You okay?" Peyton shines her torchlight on her.

"Ah, yes, yes. I just felt a bit sick. It's the prison food probably," she pulls her scanner out of its bag. "Did the Doctor send you to babysit me? Ha! One day he'll laugh at that."

Peyton frowns, not bothering to ask what that means. She's learnt when dealing with River Song that she never explains her self, but she always proves to be true in time.

"This way, what do you think?" She asks, changing the subject. She begins to walk without waiting for Peyton's reply.

She follows cautiously, shining her flashlight around the wet walls. There's some more of that gunky tubing that was on the machine down here. Other than that. The tunnel isn't much to look at.

There's a rattling sound. The sound of something brushing against the wall. Each minuscule disturbance her ears pick up makes her more paranoid.

"I keep thinking I can hear things," she whispers to River.

"Interesting! These tunnels are old," she completely ignores her. "Really old. How can that be really old and nobody notice them?"

River's flashlight stops as it illuminates a metal door. Peyton groans.

"What's behind there?" Peyton stares at it. "Is it a maintenance hatch?"

"It's locked," River crouches down to be eye level with the handle. "Why do people always lock things?"

"They probably have a good reason," Peyton looks behind her quickly as she hear another noise. "What if it's something bad?"

"Oh, almost definitely," River chuckles.

"You're going to open it, aren't you?"

"It's locked. How's a girl supposed to resist?"

"Is this sensible? Shouldn't we get the Doctor to have a look?" Peyton reasons.

"God, I hope not. And you've got to stop relying on that man. You're a big girl now."

"You and him, I can see it," Peyton raises an eyebrow but she is concentrating on the door.

"Keep a lookout," River says.

"What did you mean?" she asks. "What you said to Amy. That there's a worse day coming for you?"

She looks up at Peyton with sad, sad eyes. She almost regrets asking.

"When I first met the Doctor, a long, long time ago. He knew all about me. Think about that. Impressionable young girl, and suddenly this man just drops out of the sky. He's clever and mad and wonderful and knows every last thing about her. Imagine what that does to a girl."

"I don't really have to," Peyton drops her eyes to the floor. She thinks about her first meeting with the Doctor. He may have not known a single thing about her but he was alluring. He was magnetic. He still is.

"Trouble is, it's all back to front," she sighs. "My past is his future. We're travelling in opposite directions. Every time we meet, I know him more, and he knows me less. I live for the days when I see him. But I know that every time I do, he'll be one step further away. And the day's coming when I'll look into that man's eyes, my Doctor, and he won't have the faintest idea who I am."

The door mechanism whirs to life, startling her a little. She had been working on it as she told her this.

"And I think it's going to kill me."

She gets to her feet and places a hand on the door handle, looking at Peyton for confirmation before thrusting it down.

The door falls open slowly. There's a large room behind it. River walks in and Peyton follows her cautiously. But what she sees is so familiar.

"I've been here before," Peyton gasp. River turns and looks at her with the strangest expression. "Maybe not _here_ exactly. But another version. In England, 2010, with the Doctor. It's a ship of some kind."

The central pillar starts flashing and a loud noise fills their ears.

"We've triggered an alarm. Check if anything's coming."

Before Peyton can protest at how bad of an idea that is, she finds herself following her orders immediately.

She sticks her head outside the door and jumps as she see two white figures in black suits. Except they're not men. They're not human. Their faces remind her of that painting of 'The Scream', ivory white and without a mouth.

Their eyes are black and deeply sunken into their skulls.

Three fingers.

At least seven foot each, their height that is.

Peyton's hearts pound in her chest as she tries to cry out to River but she can't make a sound. Simply staring at the creatures in fright.

She gathers some strength and pushes herself back into the room.

"There's nothing out there," she calls to River. She frowns. Why are her hearts beating so fast? Peyton wipes cold sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. How did that get there?

This place gives her the heebie-jeebies and she wants nothing more than to leave immediately.

The alarm has stopped thankfully. Peyton walks toward River at the console and watch her as she stares intensely at her scanner. She places a hand on one of the orbs.

"No, don't!" Peyton cries out.

River looks to her with an eyebrow raised but nothing happens. No electricity, she doesn't drop to the floor dead.

"These tunnels," she says. "They're not just here, they're everywhere. They're running under the surface of the entire planet! They've been here for centuries."

"How has nobody noticed them?" Peyton frowns. "Seems like the sort of thing you wouldn't just forget about."

Light flashes from the tunnel behind them and the feeling of goosebumps crawl up her neck again, Peyton turns her head ever so slowly, peering into the darkness.

Sunken eyes.

Ivory skin.

Three fingers.

She just saw them. But she forgot? How did she forget?

The sound of electricity whirs through her ears and she hears River scream. "Peyton!"

Everything goes black.


	17. The Day they Beat the Spacemen

Peyton had always wanted to travel across America, but not like this.

After she had hit the floor in the tunnels, River had scooped her up and helped her out back into the warehouse. She had only passed out for a second but it had definitely left a bump.

They had all run out of the warehouse, but the creatures were intent on keeping them there. The creatures she keeps forgetting. Why did she keep forgetting?

They piled into the Tardis and the Doctor formed 'The Plan'.

Peyton personally thought it was a bit of a rubbish plan. Get lost in America for a few months until the FBI hunts them down. She was just glad it was summer.

"Every time you see one of the creatures," the Doctor had said as Peyton stepped out of the Tardis in Minnesota. "Make a mark on you somewhere, anywhere." He took a sharpie and her hand, making a single tally on her forearm.

"When will I see you again?" she had asked.

"Canton will get the gang all back together soon, we just need to disappear. Become wanted criminals, have us be eliminated by the FBI, then we can get to work," he said as she adjusted the straps of her backpack.

"Right, stay safe, Doctor," Peyton waved as she turned her back on the Tardis, taking a shaky breath and heading out into the busy street.

• • •

Being on the run was hard. Peyton had lost the backpack of spare clothes and maps somewhere in Montana and had only managed to find two public bathrooms to shower in the past week.

No money to buy a bus fare, deodorant, maps, or even toothpaste. She has nothing but skin littered with tally marks and bruises.

Peyton still had no idea what the creatures looked like. She had apparently scribbled on her arm the words 'skull' 'suit' and 'white' while having an encounter as she has no memory of marking those words into her skin, nor did it give her any hints. 

Seattle was gorgeous, from afar.

She noticed that the FBI has been following her for a week now, it had to look like she was running. Canton said that for them to believe they were a threat they couldn't just fall into their laps when they became tired, she had to keep running, and running.

Camping out in Olympic National Park proved to be a safe haven. Peyton managed to find a stream to wash in and she was even able to steal some food from a park cafe.

She hears them before she sees them.

The sound of heavy footsteps over undergrowth and the metallic clinking of guns.

Peyton has her back pressed to a large tree she isn't sure the name of, the jagged bark sticking into her flesh.

She hears whistling, it sends shivers up her spine even though the logical part of her knows nothing bad will actually happen, that is if everything goes to plan.

"Miss Barrett," Canton calls in a sing-song voice. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

"Canton, think about this," Peyton yells back. "Think about the creatures. All over America. Remember them!"

She has to give herself props for her acting skills, but what she wasn't acting was the adrenaline running through her veins. It was like when she was little and she was playing chase and tag. She knew that nothing bad was going to happen, not really, but the evolutionary instinct of survival pushed her to run faster, be more scared.

And of course, she was scared. Only Canton had the fake gun, all the rest were packing real bullets. She can't count on a regeneration if one of them got a little trigger happy.

She can't seem to hear them anymore though. The forest is silent save for the rattling of leaves in the foliage above. She leans to peak around from her hiding place to see Canton standing a few feet away with his gun trained on her. Peyton stumbles out from behind the tree with her marker covered hands above her head. Agents with guns raised flank Canton, not providing Peyton with any sense of security. 

"You lot never do shut up about these ' _creatures_ '."

Her eyes shut tight but that doesn't shield her from the loud bang of the bullet ricocheting out of the gun and the sharp pain in her shoulder as it hits her.

• • •

Peyton's eyelids are heavy but even after she forces them open all she sees is blackness. It's hot, and a little bit damp from her breath. She tries not to move. Canton warned them that the only way he might be able to get them to the Doctor was in body bags. Not being able to move made her hyper-aware of the sweat trickling down her back and forehead and how uncomfortable it was to be dragged along the ground.

It took biting down on her lip to stop her from letting out a noise as she was dragged up onto a platform, the solid material definitely bruising her tailbone slightly.

She can hear muffled voices. Two men speaking. The mechanical sound of a door closing.

She feels something double-tap her leg and she sits bolt upright and let out a sigh of relief.

Peyton tries and to get her moisture covered hands to cooperate with the zip on the bag. The feeling of cool air hitting her face is marvellous.

She draws in thick and full breaths of oxygen and look around her surroundings.

A dark room, no doors, no windows. Canton stands by her feet, clearly the one who alerted her that it was safe, and the Doctor behind her, shrugging off a straight jacket.

"You okay?" The Doctor asks, pulling the bag down around her waist

"Finally," Peyton hears Amy's familiar accent for the first time in three months.

"These things could really do with air holes," Rory complains.

"Never had a complaint before," Canton shrugs.

"Isn't it going to look odd that you're staying in here with us?" Peyton asks as she gets to her feet, dodging the Doctor's outspread arms as he stretches.

"Odd but not alarming. They know there's no way out of this place," Canton assures her.

"Exactly," the Doctor says. "Whatever they might think we're doing in here, they know we're not going anywhere."

The Doctor hooks his thumbs under his suspenders and leans sideways onto an invisible Tardis.

It is now that Peyton notices his horrific beard. She is about to say something about it but he snaps his fingers, causing the Tardis doors to fall open. "Shall we?"

They all run inside the Tardis, happy to see the familiar interior again.

"What about Doctor Song?" Peyton hears Canton ask. "She dove off a rooftop!"

"Don't worry! She does that." The Doctor says, slamming the doors. "Amy, Rory, Peyton, open all the doors to the swimming pool!"

They nod and bolt down a corridor.

• • •

Stepping out of the shower felt like heaven. She hadn't been properly clean like this in weeks.

Even though the Tardis bathrooms had way too many knobs and buttons than was strictly necessary, being able to pick and choose from four hundred and eighty-two kinds of shampoo made her feel as though she were in the magical prefect's bathroom at Hogwarts from the movies. Thankfully on the Tardis, there were no pervy ghosts.

The Doctor had stressed that they were to get ready quickly, to which Peyton pointed out that this was a time machine and technically they could take as long as they wanted and still be early. The Doctor did not like that.

The Tardis bathroom dries her hair long blonde hair instantly and has her clothes waiting on the towel warmer to slip into.

When Peyton enters the console room, she is glad to see that she isn't the last one to return; Rory and Canton are in conversation by the stairs to the bedrooms, River is looking at something on the monitor and the Doctor is talking very fast at her. He has shaven and gotten his caveman looking hair back into its smart shape. His eyes light up when he sees Peyton.

"Peyton," he pulls her into a hug as she steps up onto the flight deck. "You smell much better."

Peyton pulls away from him with a laugh. "You _look_ much better."

"Really, I was kind of sad to see the beard go, it was growing on me!"

Peyton only replies with a raised eyebrow as the Doctor hops from one foot to another, a massive smile on his face and evidently pleased with himself and the pun. When he realises she isn't impressed he stops and pouts at her. "Rory laughed. Rory is my new favourite."

At the mention of his name, Rory looks up at Peyton and mouths, 'I didn't'.

"Where's Amy?" Canton asks.

"She'll be down soon," Peyton sighs. "In the near future."

"Oh hush, I can hear you all complaining," Amy's scottish accent calls from the top of the stairs.

"Finally," the Doctor runs to the bottom of the stairs and reaches up to grab her hand and pull her the rest of the way down. "We're all here."

"Now what?" Rory asks, leaning foreword against the console. "We break into Apollo 11?"

"Nope. Well, _you_ don't. Teams! Team A, team B, team C," the Doctor says, prancing around the console before picking something up. "But first." He grabs Canton's hand and presses whatever he picked up to his palm.

"Ow!" Canton exclaims, inspecting his hand after the Doctor allows him to pull it away.

"So, three months. What have we found out?" The Doctor asks, waving his hands.

"Well, they are everywhere. Every state in Americ- ah!" Rory reports, exclaiming in pain as the Doctor does the same to him as he did to Canton.

Peyton frowns at the device, he's going to do it to her too, isn't he? She balls her hands into fists anxiously.

"Not just America, the entire world," the Doctor corrects him.

"There's a greater concentration here though," River adds.

"Ouch," Amy explains voice than a startled one as the Doctor decides it's her turn to receive whatever is in that gun.

He mumbles something under his breath to her and she utters something back.

"So you've seen them," Canton says. "But you don't remember them."

"You've seen them too," River notes. "That night at the warehouse, remember? While you were pretending to hunt us down we saw hundreds of those things."

"And we _still_ don't know what they look like," Peyton adds.

The Doctor walks toward her and extends his hand, palm to the ceiling. As the others continue talking. Peyton reluctantly places her hand on top of his and unfurls it slowly.

"Don't look at it, look at me," he instructs. She looks up into his hazel eyes, staring at her intensely.

Peyton hisses, gritting her teeth as he pulls the trigger and whatever it is pierces her flesh. He gives her a wink before returning to the console.

"So that's why you marked your skin?" Canton nods.

"Only way we'd know if we'd had an encounter," Amy shrugs.

"How long have they been here?"

"That's what we've spent three months trying to figure out," Peyton sighs, still shaking her hand as the pain lingers.

"Not easy, if you can't remember anything you discover," Rory adds, folding his arms.

"But how long do you think?"

"As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye," the Doctor says darkly, slowly making his way over to Canton. "Or creaking in your house, or breathing under your bed, or voices through a wall. They've been running your lives for a very long time now, so keep this straight in your head: we are not fighting an alien invasion, we're leading a revolution. And today the battle begins."

"How?"

"Like this," he leans back and presses the gun to River's hand who jumps back yelping. The Doctor laughs. "Nano recorder! Fuses with the cartilage in your hand," he loads the gun again and presses it to his own palm. "Ow! Then it tunes itself directly to the speech centres in your brain. It'll pick up your voice no matter what. Telepathic connection. So the moment you see one of the creatures, you activate it." He presses his ring finger to the palm of his hand and the device starts flashing red. "And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing."

He takes his finger off it and lowers his hand, he presses it again. The Doctor's voice crackles through his hand. _"And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing."_

"Because the moment you break contact, you're going to forget it ever happened. The light will flash if you've left yourself a message. You keep checking your hand! If you've had an encounter, that's the first you'll know about it."

"Why didn't you tell me this before we started?" Canton questions.

"I did, but even information about these creatures erases itself over time," he presses some buttons on the console. "I couldn't refresh it, 'cause I couldn't talk to you."

Canton nods before reaching forward to fix the Doctor's bow tie.

Nobody says anything. Everyone just simmers in how awkward that was.

"What?" Canton frowns. "What are you staring at?"

"Look at your hand," River says.

He looks down. "Why is it doing that?"

"What does it mean if the lights flashing," the Doctor reminds him lowly. "What did I just tell you?"

"I haven't-"

"Play it."

The silence in the Tardis continues as Canton slowly reaches over to tap his palm.

 _"My God, how did it get in here?"_ Canton's voice plays from his hand.

_"Keep eye contact with the creatures and when I say, turn back, and when you do, straighten my bow tie."_

_"What? What are you staring at?"_

_"Look at your hand."_

Everyone in the room slowly turns their heads toward the Tardis doors. And standing there is one of the creatures.

Peyton had sort of gotten used to their horrifying features, that is when she can remember them.

Her heartbeats still quicken and her hands become shaky. The memories of their rattling breath, their skeletal hands reaching toward herflash across her mind.

"It's a hologram," the Doctor assures. "Extrapolated from a photo on Amy's phone. Take a good long look."

She watches as the Doctor flips a switch.

"You just saw an image of one of the creatures we're fighting. Describe it to me," the Doctor clicks.

Peyton blinks quickly. No she didn't. How could she have seen it? She looks around the Tardis trying to find it, she remembers Canton's recording, but she can't remember anything between then and now.

"I can't," Canton frowns.

"No. Neither can I," the Doctor says. "You straightened my bow tie because I planted the idea in your head while you were looking at the creature."

"So they could do that to people," Amy asks. "You could be doing stuff and not really know why you're doing it."

"Like a post-hypnotic suggestion," Peyton nods, frowning.

"Ruling the world with post-hypnotic suggestion?" Rory doubts.

"Now then, a little girl in a spacesuit," the Doctor hurried along. "They got the suit from NASA but where did they get the girl?"

"Could be anywhere," Canton reasons.

"Except they'd probably stay close to that warehouse 'cause why bother doing anything else? And they'd take her from somewhere that would cause the least amount of attention," the Doctor says, using the keyboard to look up something on the monitor. "But you'll have to find her. I'm off to NASA."

"Find her? Where do we look?" Canton asks.

"Children's homes," The Doctor states.

• • •

Peyton had been assigned to the team NASA. She had offered to go with Amy and Canton in search of the little girl but the Doctor refused, insisting that her brain was needed with him.

She didn't expect to be standing at the top of Apollo 11, fiddling with the rocket's engine.

"You're really bad at explaining this, what does this do again?" Peyton asks, inspecting the blue device he had instructed her to hold for the time being.

"This human side of you really slows you down, huh?" The Doctor snarks, only to receive a punch in the leg from her. "Give it here now. It's basically a communicator. It's going to mess with the moon landing broadcast. Tell the whole world about the creatures."

"Yeah, but it doesn't make sense to give everyone a message when they're going to forget it immediately," Peyton points out.

"Post hypnotic suggestion, Peyton," the Doctor sighs, knowing he's told her this. Truth be told, she wasn't really listening to the first time as she was too busy geeking out about Apollo 11 and getting to look around at its electronics.

The sound of a small electronic device starts beeping and the Doctor pulls a small, almost phone looking device out of his pocket and thrusts it in her direction. "It's Amy."

"Aimes, what's up?" She asks as she puts the device to her ear.

"I think we've found the place she was taken from," Amy reports, though it sounds like she's whispering. It is the dead of night and she assumes all the children at the home would be asleep.

"How do you know?" Peyton asks, looking back at the Doctor who seems to be gesturing for her to tell him what she's saying. She silently tells him 'shut up' and turns her back to him.

"'Cause those things have been here. But the whole place is deserted. There's just one guy here and I think he's lost it."

"I assume constant memory wipes would destroy your brain a little," she turns back quickly to the Doctor for confirmation on her theory and he gives her a thumbs up.

"Tell her to not hang around much longer," the Doctor requests.

"Don't hang around too long," Peyton relays over the phone. "Doctor's orders."

"Where are you anyway?"

" _Hey!_ " 

Peyton looks up and there are two men in white coats and hard hats walking toward them, looking very angry for some reason. Probably because she's standing beside a man who's fiddling with the electronics of a rocket.

"Gotta go," Peyton says into the phone quickly. "Got company."

She quickly chucks the device back to the Doctor who catches it and sits up as the two men come upon them. "Don't worry, I put everything back the way I found it," he promises but picks up a bit of wiring. "Uh, except this. There's always a bit left over."

Peyton smiles sweetly at the two men in hopes of appearing innocent but the taller one stares her down, pulling a walkie talkie out of his pocket and calling security.

• • •

Being handcuffed in a chair isn't in Peyton's top ten favourite experiences. Especially when she is in an empty lecture theatre and the two security guards interrogating her have confiscated both her and the Doctor's sonics.

"One more time, sir, ma'am. How the _hell_ did you get into the command module?" The one sitting in front of Peyton asks, rubbing his eyes. They had already told him the truth, or near the truth, twice now.

"We told you! We're on a top-secret mission for the President," the Doctor groans impatiently.

"Well, maybe if you can just get President Nixon to assure us of that, sir, that would be swell," he chuckles, clearly making fun of them.

"I sent him a message," the Doctor assures him, giving Peyton a wink.

As if on cue, as a lot of things tend to be with the Doctor, the doors to the room burst open and the familiar face of the thirty-seventh US President walks through, flanked by the also familiar faces of River and Rory, dressed in incredibly dated business attire.

"Hello," the President announces his arrival and the guard sitting scrambles to his feet. "I believe it's Mr Gardener, is that correct? Head of security?" He extends his hand toward him and Mr Gardener takes his hand eagerly.

"Ah, yes, sir. Yes, Mr President."

"Mr Grant is it?" Nixon offers his hand toward the other guard.

"Yes, Mr President."

"The hopes and dreams of millions of Americans stand here today at Cape Kennedy, and you are the men who guard those dreams. On behalf of the American people, I thank you," Nixon compliments them.

"Thank you, Mr President," Mr Gardener says, he looks like he's about to cry.

"I understand you have a baby on the way, Mr Grant?" The President continues to make small talk which Peyton's wrists rubbing against the metal handcuffs do not appreciate.

"Yes, Mr President."

"What are you hoping for, a boy or a girl?"

"Just a healthy American, sir."

What a suck-up.

"A healthy American will do just nicely," Nixon laughs, patting him on the shoulder. "Now, fellas, listen. These two young people here, are doing some work for me, personally. Could you, uh, cut them a little slack?"

"Uh, Mr President, they did break into Apollo 11," Mr Gardener stresses.

The President leans slightly to narrow his eyes at Peyton and the Doctor. She mouths the word 'sorry' at him.

"Well, I'm sure they had a very good reason for that." Behind Nixon, Peyton sees River and Rory share a look between themselves and she raises an eyebrow at them. "But I need you to release them now, so they can get on with some very important work for the American people. Could you do that for me?"

"Well-"

"Son," Mr Nixon cuts off Mr Grant. "I am your commander in chief."

"Then I guess that would be fine, Mr President," Mr Gardener says.

"Glad to hear it."

The armed guard behind Peyton steps beside her to unlock her cuffs. Then she and the Doctor spring to their feet and Peyton grabs their sonics from the desk.

She tosses the screwdriver in the Doctor's direction who catches it in front of his chest before tucking it into his jacket pocket.

"Thank you," he reaches forward to shake Mr Grant's hand. "Buh bye," he shakes Mr Gardener's hand. Peyton settles on a polite nod in each of their directions.

The Doctor points finger guns at the President but Peyton just mutters thanks at him.

"Carry on, gentlemen," the President says as they walk past him toward the Tardis.

"Nice outfit," Peyton comments to River as she meets her side.

"Thank you," she nods, straightening her jacket a little.

They pile into the Tardis, the President apparently already has been debriefed on the whole bigger on the inside thing.

Peyton jumps up to the console and looks around, wanting to find Rory and make fun of his glasses. Wait. "Where's Rory?"

Everyone looks toward the door just in time for Rory to walk in with his head down. He notices everyone staring. "Sorry, got... distracted."

• • •

The Tardis phone rings as they all wait around for the Doctor to finish talking to the President. Peyton picks it up.

"Hello?" 

"Peyton! Oh God, where's the Doctor?" Canton sounds panicked.

"What's happened?" Peyton holds the phone tighter to her ear and sees River and Rory get up and come closer to her worriedly.

"Just get here now! I think it's the creatures! I think they've got Amy."

Without thinking, Peyton drops the phone and bolt down to the Tardis door, throwing it open. "Doctor! It's Canton! Quick, he needs us!"

The Doctor doesn't ask any questions, he just turns and marches toward the Tardis, she steps aside to let him in and shuts the door behind him before running to follow him up to the console

"Peyton, pull that switch and turn the handle once anticlockwise," he orders, preparing the Tardis for flight.

"Why?" Peyton asks, taken aback but doing what she's told.

"It will trace any call coming through the Tardis phone and take us there," he looks up into her eyes and stills for a second. "It's about time I teach you how to fly."

• • •

This was definitely no place for a child to live. The four burst through the front doors and hear Canton's yelling from a higher storey.

Peyton sprints up the stairs shortly behind the Doctor who leads the charge into the creepy building. Peyton catches glimpses of the red writing on the walls. She prays to anyone that will listen that it is not blood.

"I'm going to try to blow the lock. I need you to stand back!" Canton's voice is close now and Peyton can see the back of his head beyond the landing at the top of the flight of stairs they are currently are scaling.

"Okay, gun down, I've got it!" The Doctor says quickly, whipping out his sonic.

"Amy, we're here! Are you okay?" Rory shouts.

"I can't see," the faint voice of Amy seems through the metal door. Peyton notes that it is kind of an odd-looking door to have in an orphanage. It's the kind that would seem more at home in a warehouse or a lab.

The Doctor gets the lock open and shoves the door open with his shoulder. They fall into the room and look around widely, yet Amy is nowhere to be seen.

It's a child's room, covered in toys and photos. In fact, it's the only part of the building she's seen that is well kept. Except for the spaceman suit lying on the floor. Peyton pulls her own sonic out cautiously and runs it over the suit, looking for life signs. Negative. Quickly she pulls the visor open and sighs in relief when she sees that the suit is empty.

"Where is she?" Peyton asks.

"It's dark, it's so dark." Peyton can still hear Amy's voice but she is unsure where it is coming from. "I don't know where I am. Please, can anybody hear me?"

Peyton watches Rory bend down and pinch something off the floor. Between his finger and thumb, she sees the flashing red light. She looks down at her own palm and then back at it.

"They took this out of her," Rory says so quietly she almosts miss it. "How did they do that, Doctor?" Amy starts sobbing and the sound breaks her heart. "Why can I still hear her?"

"Is it a recording?" River asks, looking up from inspecting the suit.

The Doctor quickly scans the device but doesn't even look at the sonic afterwards. "Um. It defaults to live. This is current. Wherever she is right now, this is what she's saying."

"Amy, can you hear me?" Rory brings the Nano recorder to his lips. "We're coming for you. Where ever you are, we're coming, I swear."

"She can't hear you," the Doctor says, eyes fixed on the carpet. "I'm so sorry, it's one way."

Rory turns and looks at him, a cocktail of emotions in his eyes. "She can always hear me, Doctor. "Always. Wherever she is she always knows that _I_ am coming for her, do you understand me?"

The Doctor nods slightly.

"Always," Rory repeats.

"Doctor, are you out there?" Amy says through the recorder. "Can you hear me? Doctor? Oh, God. Please, please, Doctor, just get me out of this."

The heartbreak in Rory's eyes is like a gunshot wound to Peyton's stomach. He stares at the red flashing light, refusing to look at the Doctor, his eyes brimming with tears but he blinks them back. "He's coming," He looks up into the Time Lord's eyes. "I'll bring him, I swear."

"Hello, is someone in there?"

Canton cocks his gun and points it at the doorway where a frail middle-aged man peers into the room, very confused. He's quite short, but that may just be his poor posture and the bald spot atop his head and the distressed stubble ages him terribly.

"Hello, I think someone has been shot. I think we should help. We... I can't, I can't remember."

• • •

The sight shocks Peyton to her core. The creature, propping itself up against a pile of books as it struggles on the floor.

The rattling sound it makes sounds less menacing and more like it's struggling to breathe now, seeing it in a position of weakness for the first time alleviates a little bit of the fear she has had for them.

The Doctor, being so amazingly him, crouches down by its side cautiously, holding his hand out as a sign that he means no harm and but once he sees that the creature makes no move to hurt him, he straightens himself a bit.

"Who and what are you?" He demands

"Silence, Doctor," it hisses. Now that she is seeing it. She only remembers one of the creatures speaking to her once or twice. It was all about how she must not meddle with what must come, she assumes that means the Doctor's death, a heartbreaking realisation. "We are, the Silence."

The Doctor doesn't reply, in fact, he stumbles back a little but saves himself before he falls. Peyton can't see his face, but she's sure it's one of horror.

"And Silence will fall."

That's when Peyton starts putting the pieces together herself.

Prisoner Zero told the Doctor that silence would fall the first time they had met. He was talking about these creatures. How did it know about them? How did it remember them?

This creature, the Silent, in front of her writhes in pain on the floor. The Doctor slowly stands to his feet and walks back toward the others.

"Are you okay?" Peyton whispers to him.

"No."

• • •

Peyton watches Rory wander off the corner of the room and sink down behind the wooden crates. She walks over to him slowly. Ever since they came back from the orphanage, delivering the Silent to Area 51, and setting up base in the warehouse he has been distant and hard to read. Peyton tries talking to him, it's hard to see one of her best friends in distress, to assure him that she is worried for Amy too but that the Doctor will find a way to save her.

He gives her a fake smile as she sits across from him, leaning against a crate. But before she can open her mouth she is interrupted by Amy.

"I love you," she says. Rory's eyes widen as he stares intensely at its "I know you think it's him. I know you think it ought to be him. But it's not, it's you. And when I see you again, I'm going to tell you properly, just to see your stupid face. My life was so boring before you just, dropped out of the sky."

Rory's head drops and Peyton has no idea what to say. She feels a wave of hot anger at Amy, she'd fallen in love with the Doctor and still married Rory? She had settled because she felt like she had too? Being torn between her two best friends gave Peyton knots in her stomach, on one hand, she wants to support Amy, but on the other, she is so protective over Rory and his feelings. 

"Just get your stupid face where I can see it. Okay?"

The Doctor appears out of nowhere, sitting down beside the heartbroken man. Peyton decides that this is definitely a 'bro' chat she does not want to be caught in the middle of so she quietly gets to her feet and join River.

"What's she saying that's getting everyone in a mood?" River asks softly but not looking up from the suit.

Peyton glares at her and she lifts a hand in surrender.

"So you don't want to talk about it?"

"No, not really," Peyton stands next to her and leans her head on her shoulder.

River begins to say something but she cuts her off. "I'm just tired."

She lets her lean against her while she inspects the suit. Her eyelids are heavy so she lets them fall shut. She doesn't fall asleep, but she lets herself rest there for a moment.

She isn't sure how much time passes, enough that her neck starts to hurt a little. She stands up to stretch it and as her eyes flutter open a little, she sees River smile at her.

"You two, quit canoodling and get over here?" The Doctor calls in a surprisingly chipper voice.

"You jealous, sweetie?" River laughs.

"What? No. I mean... No." He stammers. "Stop that, I have good news."

He pulls out Peyton's phone from his pocket and she frowns, unable to remember when he pinched it.

"Canton's got the footage so in five days when that rocket lands on the moon we can stop the Silents and save Amy. What do we do in the meantime? I don't know. Human stuff."

"Doctor!" Peyton yells, a little annoyed. "We have a time machine. Five days can be five minutes, let's go!"

Eager to find her best friend and eager to leave the 1960s altogether, Peyton glares at the idiot in front of her who had seemingly forgotten for a second that he owned the only time machine in existence.

"Oh! Of course, idiot Doctor," he snaps her phone shut and tosses it to her.

• • •

"Oi! Hold up, hold up!" The Doctor yells as Peyton and Rory sprint toward the door. She whips her head around to the Doctor with a frustrated look on her face. "We're about to storm probably the Silents' home base and you're just gonna burst in?"

Peyton looks to Rory and shrugs. The Doctor picks up the television that he stole from the warehouse and walks down beside them, thrusting it into Peyton's arms and places a hand on the handle. "Let's try not to get killed."

He sticks his head out the door. "Oh! Interesting." He steps out of the box so Peyton assumes it's safe to follow him out. The television is heavy, holding it in her arms for a few seconds has caused her shoulders to strain. She readjusts as best she can without letting it drop.

The creatures, the Silents. Every time she sees them she is shocked by their ghastly appearance. She counts five but the darkness beyond their immediate surroundings gives her the impression that there is something lurking in the dark beyond. There is may too, strapped to a board across the room, looking very relieved to see them. Another wave of Déjà vu hits her when she realises that the room is exactly same as the one she and River found in the tunnels and exactly the same as the mysterious room above Craig's flat in London.

"Very Aickman Road, seen one of these before. Abandoned, wonder how that happened," the Doctor says as she hears River cock her blaster next to her. "Well, suppose I am about to find out. Rory, Peyton, River, keep one Silent in eyeshot at all times. Oh, hello!" He addresses the Silents as if he had not noticed them. "You're in the middle of something. Just had to say though, have you seen what is on the telly?"

The Doctor grabs the television from Peyton and she sighs in relief as the heavy weight is lifted from her. "Oh, hello, Amy, you alright? Want to watch some television?"

The Silents go to make a move against him but without looking up from where he has haphazardly places the tv on the console he warns. "Ah, now, stay where you are. Because look at me I'm confident. You want to watch that, me when I'm confident. Oh and this is my friend, River. Nice hair, clever, has her own gun and unlike me, she really doesn't mind shooting people. I shouldn't like that. Kinda do a bit."

"Thank you, sweetie," River smiles, walking slowly toward the Doctor with her gun still raised.

"I know you're team players and everything, but she'll definitely kill at least the first three of you," he says nonchalantly, standing back to back with River.

"The first seven, easily," she assures.

"Seven, really?"

"Eight for you, honey."

"Stop it."

"Make me."

"Yeah, well, maybe I will."

"Is this really important flirting? Because I feel like I should be higher on the list right now." Amy interrupts. Peyton's glad she did or she would have to. First of all, flirting in a highly stressful situation like this was entirely unhelpful and secondly, it iss like seeing her parents get all lovey-dovey together. It makes her quite uncomfortable.

"Yes, right. Sorry. As I was saying," the Doctor breaks away from River. Peyton grabs Rory's forearm and nods toward Amy. While the Silents are preoccupied with the Doctor and River, she decides should probably help get Amy out. As she gets closer to her, the Doctor grabs the back of her collar and pulls her toward him. She motions for Rory to still go to Amy. "My naughty friend here is going to kill the first three of you to attack, plus him behind. So maybe you want to draw lots, or have a quiz."

The Doctor leans to whisper in Peytons ear. "Fewer people around her, less likely they're gonna notice."

He twirls away from Peyton and begins walking around the console. "Or maybe you could just listen a minute, because all I want to do is accept your total surrender, and then I'll let you go in peace. Yes, you've been interfering with human history for thousands of years. Yes, people have suffered and died. But what's the point in two hearts if you can't be a bit forgiving every now and then?"

He has made his way around the circular console and back with Peyton and River, staring up defiantly into the eyes of the closest Silent. "Ooh, the Silence. You guys take that seriously, don't you? Okay, you got me, I'm lying. I'm not really going to let you go that easily. Nice thought, but it's not Christmas. First..."

He spins on his heel and takes a step toward the television on the console, turning the knobs on it and fixes the antennae. Then he turns back around to face off against the same Silent. "You tell me about the girl. Who is she? Why is she important? What she for?"

The television is making muffled noise now, a man's voice is leaking out from the crackly speakers. Peyton can see a blurry black and white image and the caption 'LIVE FROM THE SURFACE OF THE MOON'.

"Guys, Sorry. But you're way out of time," the Doctor says. "Now come on," he claps. "A bit of history for you. Aren't you proud because you helped?" He runs back to the tv and makes a few more adjustments. "Now, do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion, and that's nothing, 'cause the human race will spread out among the stars, you just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years. And every single one of them, at some point in their lives, will look back at this man, taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it. Oh, but they'll forget this bit."

He picks up his phone and asks, "Ready?" Into it

Peyton knows that it is Canton on the other end, sending the footage he got of the injured Silent through to Apollo 11 and to the whole world.

"That's one small step for man-"

Neil Armstrong's famous line is cut off by the static-y image of the Silent. "You should kill us all on sight," the rattling and hollow voice of the creature rings through her ears and she can only imagine how many of the half a billion people watching this are incredibly confused right now.

"You've given the order for your own execution, and the whole planet just heard you," the Doctor gloats.

"... One giant leap for mankind."

"And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence!" The Doctor cheers. "You just raised an army against yourself. And now, for a thousand generations, you're going to be ordering them to destroy you every day. How fast can you run? Because today's the day the human race throw you off their planet. They won't even know they're doing it. I think, quite possibly the word you're looking for right now is, 'oops'! Run!"

Electricity sparks overhead as the Silent leans closer and closer to the Doctor.

"Guys, I mean us! Run!"

Peyton ducks as River starts shooting at the Silents who have all begun to march toward them, freakishly long arms extended and channelling the electricity through them.

"Peyton!" Rory calls.

"Oh, right," she nods, running over to help Amy out of her bonds.

"Go, Rory, just get your stupid face out of here!" Amy yells just as Peyton gets to her. He stares at her intensely for a minute.

"Rory!" She snaps her fingers in front of his face before using her sonic to free Amy. She grabs Amy's hand and pulls her out.

"Run! Into the Tardis, quickly!" River yells.

Peyton has no issues with that order and follows quickly, tugging Amy inside with her, one of her arms strung around her shoulders and the other around Rory's. 

Peyton lets out a long breath as she leans against the Tardis wall.

She watches as Amy and Rory embrace.

"Get a room," she laughs breathlessly.

• • •

"Rory, I'm going to need thermo-couplings. The green one and the blue ones," the Doctor says.

The President and Canton have been debriefed, River dropped off at prison and they were currently floating somewhere in space. The immediate threat of the Silence has been taken care of but the Doctor had stressed that their work was not over. 

When the Doctor returned to the Tardis from the Stormcage facility and when Peyton and Amy asked him about it teasingly, he batted them away, leaving them to giggle between themselves.

"Okay, hold on," Rory says before heading down from the console to the corridor. Peyton only briefly looks up from her signed copy of Frankenstein that the Doctor got her for her birthday for a second before returning to it, slumping further into the beige chair she's sitting on. She hears Amy slip down the stairs to join the Doctor by the console.

"So."

"So?"

"You're okay?" The Doctor asks. Peyton looks up slightly from her novel to watch Amy and the Doctor's interaction.

"Fine. Head's a bit weird. There's lots of stuff I can't quite, remember."

"After effect of the Silents. Natural enough. That's not what I was asking."

The feeling of awkwardness sets in and Peyton definitely feels like this is a conversation she's just eavesdropping into.

"You told me you were pregnant."

"What?!" Peyton manages to place a finger in her book to mark the page before slamming it shut, jumping to her feet in alarm.

"Shh!" Amy glare in her direction. Peyton pulls the ticket to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow's part two that she had been using as a bookmark out of her pocket and slips it into her book. The Doctor had taken her to see the movie as soon as they saw the first part in cinemas and demanded he take her to the future and see the second.

"Yes," she turns back to the Doctor.

"Why?" He frowns.

"Because I was. I mean, I thought I was. Turns out I wasn't," she shrugs.

"No. Why did you tell me?" The Doctor presses, folding his arms and leaning back against the console.

"'Cause you're my friend. You're my best friend."

"Oi," Peyton punches her in the arm.

"Also he was there," she defends. "You were off canoodling with River in the sewers."

"We weren't canoodling! What is with you two and 'canoodling'?" Peyton sighs.

"Did you tell Rory?" He asks.

"No," she looks down to the floor.

"Amy," Peyton chastises. "Husbands kinda want to know these things."

"Why tell me and not Rory?" The Doctor asks seriously.

"Why do you think?" She rolls her eyes.

He shrugs.

"I've travelled with you in this Tardis for so long. All that time. If I was pregnant for some of it, wouldn't it have had an effect? Because I don't want to tell Rory, his baby might have three heads, or like a time head or something."

"What's a time head?" The Doctor chuckles.

"I don't know, but what if it had one?"

"A time head?" Peyton laughs.

"Shut up, all right? Last time I'm confiding in either of you." She glances toward the corridor that Rory disappeared down some time ago. "Hey, Stupid face."

"Uhh, yeah?" Rory steps out from behind the corner, the red flashing light between his fingers visible from even her vantage point. "Hello."

"Taking that away from you, if you're going to listen in all the time," Amy rolls her eyes.

Peyton looks down at her own palm where nothing but a scar remains as evidence of the device that was in her hand.

"Okay, that's a fair point. _But_ you should've told me that you thought you were pregnant," he walks up the few steps to the console. "I'm a nurse, I'm good with pregnancy."

"Not as it turns out, that good," she snickers before walking over to him and throwing her arms around his neck. "So can you stop being stupid?"

"Uh no. Never," he wraps his arms around her waist, lifting her up and spinning her in a circle. I'm never, ever going to stop being stupid!"

Peyton and the Doctor share an uncomfortable look.

"So, this little girl," the Doctor interrupts "It's all about her. Who was she?" He grabs the monitor and pulls it toward him. "Or we could just go off and have some adventures. Anyone in the mood for adventures? I am. You only live once."

Peyton stands next to Amy as they grab the console in anticipation. Rory stands on the other side of her, all sharing an excited look.


	18. The Day they were Became Pirates

"A distress signal?" Peyton looks up from the monitor toward to the Doctor.

"Yes! Beaming out across the universe! Let's go see if we can help," he says, running around the console preparing the Tardis for flight.

"Doctor, every time we've answered a distress call, we've almost ended up dead," Amy reasons, leaning back on the railing and rolling her eyes.

"Six hearts between us and you lot and you just want to ignore a cry for help?" The Doctor raises an eyebrow, pausing his frantic running around the room. 

"You said we'd be having grand adventures, I've had enough near-death life experiences for a while now," Rory adds.

"Too late, we've landed," the Doctor says defiantly pushing up a lever, Peyton swears she catches the tip of his tongue poking through his lips. She sighs at his childishness. He grabs the monitor and swings it around to him. "Earth, early-ish 17th century, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. We're on a pirate ship!"

"Pirates? Like, real Pirates? Like those movies with Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom?" Amy cracks a smile.

"Like with beards and cutlasses and swashbuckling?" Rory becomes infected by his wife's joy.

"Yes!" The Doctor laughs. "Let's go see what mess these pirates are in."

Amy, Rory, and the Doctor all run down to the door, leaving Peyton by the console frowning. "Hang on!" she calls, they all halt in their tracks.

"Anything wrong?" The Doctor walks back to her hurriedly, his hazel eyes filled with concerned.

"Uh, yeah," she narrows her eyes at who she thought was one of the most intelligent men in the universe. "Anyone else wondering how a ship in the 1600s could be able to send out a distress call, let alone project it out into all of space and time?"

Rory and Amy share a look between each other before looking up to the Doctor for answers.

"The Tardis, not only does she pick up on distress calls, but she also picks up on, well, _general_ distress," the Doctor looks between his companions, waiting for someone to say something.

"General distress?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Well, it has to be an incredibly high and intense level of distress," he explains.

"Okay, good. We're definitely going to die," Rory sarcastically acting relieved.

"Well, with that attitude you are!" The Doctor exasperates. "Can you all just brighten up a little?"

"If we die, I'm going to kill you," Peyton promises before heading down to join Amy and Rory at the Tardis doors.

She pushes the door open and sticks her head out into what appears to be the stores of the ship. The floor is covered in an inch or two of water, making her thankful for her sturdy boots.

"Peyton, be careful!" The Doctor chastises.

"Oh, what? You come barrelling out of here all the time," she rolls her eyes, feeling as though she is being lectured by a parent.

"Yeah, well..." the Doctor struggles to come up with an answer. "I'm the adult."

He pushes past her and into the ship, cringing as his boots submerge into the water.

"Adult? I'm twenty-three!" Peyton argues.

"See," turns and smiles at her, he walks up to her and pats her twice on the cheek. "Infancy compared to me."

She glares at him but he spins away. "Let's get up on deck." He looks up to the roof where he spies a grate. "If I can just get this open." He starts banging on it.

"Do you think that's a good idea, Doctor?" Amy asks.

"What's the worst that could happen?"

• • •

The Doctor stands precariously on the end of the plank, looking out over the eerie blackness of the water.

Peyton's arms are restrained behind her back by a burly and horrible smelling man, Amy in the same position beside her.

Rory was held by the men near the plank, the next to walk it.

Yeah, what's the worst that could happen?

"Stocks are low. Only one barrel of water remains," Captain Avery says. They had been taken to the captain's quarters where the Doctor, while eager to make introductions, got them all in worse trouble. "We don't need four more empty bellies to fill. Take the doxies below to the galley."

"Hey!" Peyton and Amy yell as they are yanked backwards.

"Set them to work, they won't need much feeding."

"Rory, a little help?" Amy calls.

"Yeah. Hey, listen right. They aren't doxies," Rory splutters.

"She didn't mean just tell him off," Peyton groans in his direction. "Thanks a lot."

With a yelp, both Peyton and Amy are pushed into the galley, slipping down the stairs and landing harshly on the wooden floor.

"Next time I see your husband, I'm going to hit him," Peyton pushes herself to her feet and begins inspecting their surroundings.

"Not if I do first," Amy murmurs.

The galley looks to be just a collection of hammocks below deck, it smells as bad at the pirates above.

"What even is a doxy?" Amy asks, wandering around the room.

"To put it nicely," Peyton sighs. "A prostitute."

"Now I _am_ going to hit him."

Peyton's eyes fall on two coats and three-point hats hanging on hooks on the wall. "Well, let's go," she says, grabbing a coat and hat before tossing it to Amy and placing a hat on her own head, swinging the coat around her shoulders.

Amy smiles at her before lifting open a wooden box beside her. "Jackpot."

Peyton peers inside it and sees that it's filled with cutlasses. "Do you even know how to use one of these?" she asks, picking one up carefully and swinging it by her side.

"No. You?"

"Nope."

"Let's go get our boys back," Amy laughs before racing to the ladder and making her ascent.

Peyton follows close behind, being careful not to drop her sword or cut either of them.

They both crawl out of the yellow hutch quietly and peer up at the pirates further down the deck. To their relief, the Doctor is still standing on the edge of the plank, bouncing on it precariously as if he was testing a diving board before jumping into a pool.

"This is a big ship. Big for five of you." Peyton hears him say as they cautiously move out from behind their hiding place and toward the crew. "I suppose the rest of them are hiding someplace and they're all going to jump out and shout 'boo!'."

"Boo!" Amy shouts. Holding her sword pointed toward the captain. Peyton points her sword menacingly at the pirate next to him, raising an eyebrow as he cowers from her blade.

In fact, they all react much more than she had anticipated. They all lean as far back as they can, eyes fixed on their cutlasses.

"Throw the gun down," Amy orders. Surprisingly, the captain obeys. Peyton kicks the gun away, causing it to skid across the deck while she doesn't take her eyes off the pirates. "The rest of you on your knees."

"Amy, Peyton? What are you doing?" The Doctor asks angrily.

"Saving your life. Okay with that, are you?" Peyton snarks in his direction.

"Put down the swords. A sword could kill us all," Avery warns. He is the only pirate who hasn't sunken to his knees.

"Yep, thanks. That's actually why we're pointing them at you," Amy says, eyes fixed on the captain, intent on his submission.

A shout from the pirates alarms them as one picks up a broom, brandishing it at Peyton like a sword. Her reflexes kick in and she uses the sword in her hand to parry, barely.

She tries to base her movements based on what she's seen in movies. But more or less, she just tries to follow the pirate's movement, blocking him, trying her best not to _actually_ kill him.

Beside her, Amy is engaged in her own fight, doing just as terribly as Peyton by the looks of things.

Strike. Parry. Duck. Lean. Spin. Parry. Try not to fall over. Strike.

Peyton manages to knock the pirate back and he scrambles to get away from her blade. She chuckles to herself and waves it threateningly.

The nearest pirate gasps and leans as far back as he can. Peyton frowns.

She turns to Amy who swings her sword around confidently as the pirates whimper in fear. What kind of pirates are they?

Peyton ducks to the side as they pirates regain their courage and charge forward. While she engages one in a sword fight, well Peyton has a sword, she sees Amy run up to the bridge and grab a rope hanging down from the rigging, using it to swing herself across the deck.

The pirate immediately stops fighting her, spinning around, as one of his buddies cries out in pain.

"You have killed me," he says darkly.

"No way," Amy scoffs, leaning against the rope. "It's just a cut! What kind of rubbish pirates are you?"

"One drop, that's all it takes," Captain Avery says. "One drop of blood and she'll rise from the ocean."

"Come on, I barely even scratched him," Amy reasons. "What are you all in such a huff about?"

A pirate lunges at her and she swings back on her rope, accidentally throwing her sword up in the air.

Rory breaks out of his captor's arms at the sight of his wife being grabbed in such a way but he finds himself in the arc of the blade, yelling out as the sword makes a cut on his hand.

Amy stops fighting, causing her arms to be restrained behind her and while Peyton is distracted, another pirate does the same to her.

Rory is held by Mr Melodrama but he looks down at his hand and then up at the Doctor. "Uh, Doctor, what's happening to me?"

He holds his hand up to the Time Lord and Peyton sees it too. A black spot, as if someone had painted on his hand with jet black ink.

"She can smell the blood on your skin. She's marked you for death," Avery informs solemnly. At some point, he must have released the Doctor and joined the rest of his crew.

"She?" Rory frowns.

"A demon, out there, in the ocean."

"Okay," the Doctor says way too cheerily for Peyton's liking. "Groovy. So not just pirates today. We've managed to bagsy a ship where there's a demon popping in." The Doctor laughs, walking forward to inspect Rory's hand tenderly. "Very efficient, I mean, if something's going to kill you, it's nice that's it drops a note to remind you."

"Wait, kill him?" Peyton tugs against the pirate's grip to get to the Doctor but to no avail. Her eyes meet Rory who looks just as panicked at this information as she does.

Before the Doctor can say anything, a sweet singing voice fills Peyton's ears. It seems to be omnipresent and causes a wave of calm to wash over her, she even feels her pirate captor's grip loosen.

"Quickly now, block out the sound," the injured pirate warns, covering his ears with his hands.

"What?" Rory says anxiously.

"The creature. She charms all her victims with that song," Avery explains.

"Oh, great, so put my fingers in my ears. That's your plan?" Rory rolls his eyes. "Doctor, come on. Let's go, let's get back to the... back to the..."

Rory stumbles a little before giggling.

"The music. It's working on him. Look," Avery says darkly.

Rory smiles lopsidedly and stumbles over to Amy, leaning on a rope hanging down from the mast. "You, are so beautiful," he slurs.

"What?" She says, equally charmed and confused.

"Oh! I love your get up," he looks her up and down, his eyes fuzzy and dark. "That's great. You should dress as a pirate more often. Hey, cuddle me, shipmate."

"Rory, stop," Amy pushes him away.

"Everything is totally brilliant isn't it?" Rory turns to Peyton, wild-eyed, lunging forward to hold her shoulders. "Look at these brilliant pirates, look at my brilliant wife. Look at their brilliant beards!" He stumbles back from her, frowning at nothing. "I'd like a beard. I'm going to grow a beard!"

He chuckles, leaning against the other giggling pirate.

"You're not," Amy says in an unimpressed tone.

"The music turns them into fools," Avery sighs, staring at his crew member who has lost it.

Peyton raises an eyebrow as Rory and the pirate embrace, laughing to each other.

"Oh my God," Amy says, staring off down the boat. They all turn and see a woman, translucent and glowing green, hovering above the deck.

Rory tried to stumble forward but Amy grabs his arm, nodding for Peyton to come help her. In shock, the pirates holding her must have gotten distracted as the calloused hands that were gripping her biceps had disappeared.

The apparition continues singing, but reaches her hand out toward the pirates. Rory struggles against the grips on his arm, but luckily for them, he was always kind of weedy so the combined grips of Peyton and Amy kept him in place.

The injured pirate, however, staggers forward with a lopsided grin on his face, reaching his hands out toward the woman. Time seems to slow as the tip of his finger grazes against her and suddenly, with a pained scream, the man in front of them turns to dust.

"I have to touch her!" Rory pleads and Amy throws him to the ground. Peyton takes this opportunity to grab both of his forearms and hold them behind his back while helping him to his feet.

"Sorry, but he is spoken for," Amy spits at the creature.

The apparition does not like that. She turns from sea green to scarlet as she hisses, an invisible force throwing Amy backward.

The Doctor runs to check on her as Peyton is busy stopping Rory from committing suicide.

The woman returns to her natural hue and resumes singing.

"Everybody into the hold, now!" The Doctor orders, helping Amy to her feet before running over to help Peyton force Rory away from the creature, all the while he screams in protest.

The force of their landing in the hold causes water to splash up onto Peyton's jeans, making her cringe. She keeps a hold of one of Rory's arms as he reaches skyward with the other muttering under his breath.

"What was that thing?" Amy pants.

"The legend. The siren," Avery explains. "Many a merchant ship laden with treasure has fallen prey to her. She's been hunting us ever since we were becalmed. Picking off the injured."

"Like a shark," another pirate adds. "A shark can smell blood."

"Okay. Just like a shark. In a dress. And singing. And green," the Doctor rattles off. "A green singing shark in an evening gown."

"The ship is cursed!" Avery does not like the way the Doctor is happily inspecting the place like a man didn't just get killed.

"Yeah, right. 'Cursed' is big with humans. Means bad things are happening but you can't be bothered to find an explanation."

"She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Rory sighs loudly.

"Actually, I think you'll find she isn't," Amy grabs his face, trying to get him to calm down. "We have to leave, right now," Amy hisses at the Doctor.

"Is that crate of yours really a ship?" Avery questions.

"Well, it's not propelled by the wind," the Doctor says vaguely.

"Show me. Weigh anchor. Make it sail!" Avery demands, pointing his gun at the Doctor.

"And the gun's back. You're big on the gun thing, aren't you? Freud would say you're compensating. Ever met Freud? No? Comfy sofa."

"Leave the cursed one captain, the creature can have him," one of the Pirates suggests.

"Yes, please," Rory giggles.

"Absolutely not," Peyton hits Rory in the bicep, reclaming her grip on his shirt.

"We don't want the siren coming after us," Avery says.

"Aah!" One of the pirates shrieks, jumping out of the water and onto a box.

"Leeches!" Peyton cries, following suit and jumping up beside the Doctor after she spots the worm on his leg.

"Everyone out of the water!" The Doctor yells and everyone scrambles for higher ground.

"It's bitten me, I'm bleeding!" The pirate cries. He turns his hand slowly to look at the palm. From Peyton's position, she can't see, but his horrified face tells her that the black spot is there.

"She wants blood. Why does she want blood?" The Doctor mutters.

"What were you saying about leaving the cursed ones behind?" Amy raises an eyebrow at the pirate.

"It's okay," the Doctor promises. "We're safe down here. No 'curse' is getting through three solid inches of timber."

Before Peyton can point out that they have no idea the capabilities of this, thing, the siren herself proves the Doctor wrong as she rises out of the water.

"Ah, hello again," the Doctor stammers.

Peyton jumps across the crates to Rory and Amy to assist her in holding Rory back but no one gets there in time to stop the pirate.

"No!" The Doctor yells as the man staffers forward, reaching for the embrace of the siren.

With a scream, he too turns to dust.

"Out!" The captain yells, opening the door behind him to the crews quarters and they follow through, dragging Rory as they go.

The Doctor slams the door once everyone is safely on the other side.

"What did you say, Doctor?" Peyton asks sarcastically through strained breaths.

"I have my good days and my bad days," he apologises, now wearing a pirate hat, she can't remember when he put that on until she notices the absence of hat on her head, she frowns at him, snatching it back.

"How did she get in?" Avery demands.

"The bilge water. She's using water like a portal... a door. She can materialise through a single drop. We need to go somewhere with no water."

"Well thank God we're not in the middle of the ocean," Amy says, still struggling against Rory.

"Did you see her eyes?" Rory leans over to Peyton, resting the back of his head on her shoulder. "Like crystal pools."

"I think you are in enough trouble, buddy," she shoves him off her and towards his very annoyed wife.

"The magazine!" Avery gasps.

"What?" Amy frowns.

"He means the armoury, where the powder is stored," the Doctor explains.

"It's dry as a bone," Avery says.

"Good, let's go there," the Doctor nods, starting in the direction of the deck. Avery pulls his gun, pointing it between the Time Lord's eyes.

"I give the orders," he says.

"Ah, worries because I'm wearing a hat now?" The Doctor jokes before pushing past the captain anyway. "Nobody touch anything sharp!"

"Come on, Roranicus," Peyton sighs, grabbing one of Rory's arms to aid Amy in dragging him away from the hold.

Walking through the crew's quarters cause her to cringe due to the overwhelming smell of armpit and shoes. She tries not to make a sound, somehow convinced that that may make the siren reappear.

One of the pirates jumps up to the door to the magazine, fumbling with the keys.

"Quickly, man," Avery hisses.

"The key. 'Tis gone, Cap'n," he shakes his head.

"How can it have gone?" Avery yells.

"Because someone else had the same idea," the Doctor murmurs, pushing the door open with his fingertips.

Slowly and in a single file line, everyone piles into the room. Rory's struggling has become less forceful and more lethargic as the time apart from the siren increases making him a lot easier to manage.

"Barricade the door," Avery orders. "Careful of that lantern. Every barrel is full of powder."

"Who's been sleeping in my gun room?" The Doctor looks around slowly.

Quiet and muffled coughing breaks an intense silence among them and the crew of the ship, but no one in sight seems to be causing it.

Captain Avery puts his gun away and slowly reaches out for the lid of one of the barrels. Once removed, the sound of coughing becomes more audible in the room. Avery reaches his hands down into the barrel. "You fool! You fool, boy." He pulls out a child and pins him to the wall. Peyton is taken aback at the act and stares at the frightened boy. He looks no older than ten in her opinion.

"What are you doing here?"

"Who is he?" Another pirate asks.

"What, he's not one of the crew?" The Doctor frowns.

"No," Avery sighs. "He's my son"

• • •

Soon after the dramatic reveal, Rory had begun to calm down. Instead of thrashing against her grip on his arms, he was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall complaining of dizziness, all the while Amy stands over him protectively.

"How are we feeling?" Peyton asks Amy cautiously.

"Fine," she snaps. "As soon as we get off this stupid boat and stupid face stops being stupid. I'll be great."

Peyton can't think of anything to really answer back to her, except give her a tight-lipped smile.

"You can look after him for a minute," Amy sighs before storming off to the other side of the room before she can protest.

Out of the corner of her eye, Peyton sees Rory's eyes snap open and follow her as she walks to sit next to the Doctor. He struggles to get to his feet.

"Hey, careful," Peyton warns him, holding her arms out so he can use them to steady himself.

"I'm fine," he insists. But she keeps a hold of his wrist before he can get too far.

"She's pretty angry with you," she warns.

"I can tell," Rory huffs, staring at her across the room. "But I can hardly remember anything after the, the thing first appeared."

"Take it easy," she nods, walking with him over to where Amy, the Doctor and the Captain talk in low voices.

Peyton sits beside Rory, keeping a protective hand on his knee as he inspects the black spot on his hand.

"There's nothing wrong with the boy. He has no scars," Avery says.

"Yep, ignore my last theory," the Doctor sighs.

"He has his good days and his bad days," Amy pats him on the chest.

"It's not just blood," the Doctor continues. "She's coming for all the sick and wounded. Like a hunter chooses his weakest animal."

"Okay look, he's got a fever. The siren knows it," Amy points out.

"Humans," the Doctor mutters under his breath. "Second-rate. Damage too easily. It's only a matter of time before everyone gets bruised."

The Doctor stops himself when he notices all the glares from around the room.

"My ship. It can sail us all away from here. You and me, we fetch it. Let's go," he points at Avery before jumping up.

Again, the gun comes out, pointed threateningly at the Doctor. "You're not the captain here, remember?"

A shrill shriek catches their attention as little Toby lifts the lid of a barrel and the ghostly green hand of the siren reaches out. The Doctor rushes over, pushing Toby out of the way and using all of his body weight to force the lid back on the barrel.

"The water's dangerous. That's how she gets through!" Avery yells at his son. "One touch of her hand and you're a dead man!"

The Doctor reaches out a hand and places it on the boy's shoulder.

"We're all cursed if we stay aboard!" A pirate reasons.

"It's not a curse," the Doctor says. "Curse means game over. Curse means we're helpless. We are not helpless! Captain, what's our next move?"

• • •

"I should talk to her," Rory whispers in Peyton's ear as they both watch Amy pace around the room.

"Absolutely not," she shakes her head, mirroring his low tone. "We're trying to save your life here, not get you killed by other means."

"You're not in charge of me, she's my wife," Rory protests.

"I'm older."

"Aren't you supposed to be like three years old?"

"It's 1638, neither of us are born yet."

"In 2011, you're three. I'm _twenty_ -three"

"Shut up."

Amy seems to notice Peyton and Rory's whispering conversation but pretends not to by turning away harshly.

"I'm going to talk to her," he decides.

"Your funeral, buddy," she concedes.

Amy again pretends not to look at him as he walks up to her. "What's wrong," he says carefully.

"The most beautiful thing you've ever seen," she sighs sadly.

"Oh, tell me I didn't really say that," he cringes. She chuckles and Peyton sighs in relief. Rory has died a few too many times for her liking and she was not looking forward to another, especially at the hands of his own wife.

Peyton is distracted from the couple by the two remaining pirates un-barricading the door. She pushes herself up from the barrel she is sitting on and marches herself over to them. "What's going on?"

"We're not staying here to mollycoddle the boy," one of them replies. "The Captain's gone soft, it's time for us to leave."

"He told you to wait, you dog," Toby protests. "He's your Captain. A naval officer. You're honour-bound to do as he tells you."

"'Honour-bound'?" The pirate raises an eyebrow. "Do you know what kind of ship this is? Do you know what your father does?"

"Don't listen to him, Toby," Amy says, placing a hand on the side of his head, stroking his hair.

"We sail under the black flag. The Jolly Roger."

"Liar!" Toby shouts, lunging at the man but Amy and Rory hold him back. "He's no wicked pirate!"

"Oh, you think so? I've seen your father gun down a thousand innocent men."

Toby gulps loudly but doesn't say anything more, pushing Amy and Rory's hands off of him and storming off to the corner of the room.

"Get what treasure you can and meet me in the rowboat," he says to the other pirate.

"You're going to remain at your post," Toby orders, brandishing a sword, causing Peyton to lean backward cautiously, knowing fully well now what just a nick of that against her skin could do.

"I am not playing games with you boy, you put that down," the pirate stares down the blade.

"One more step and I'll use this, you blaggard," he threatens.

"You don't know how to fight with a cutlass, boy," the pirate reasons.

"Don't need to, do I?" He steps forward and sliced the skin on the back of the pirate's hand.

"Ah!" He exclaims. He turns his hand slowly to reveal the inky black spot tarnishing his pale skin. "You little swabber!"

"Congratulations," Peyton smiles sarcastically at the pirate, lowering Toby's sword arm carefully. "You've made it to the menu. You probably shouldn't go out there now."

"You scurvy ape!" He shouts, drawing his gun and pointing it at them, Toby raises his arm again.

"Don't shoot, the powder will blow and kill us all," Rory reasons.

The other pirate snatched the keys off the first pirate. "Mulligan. What are you doing?"

Mulligan throws open the door and storms out, knowing that he is the last man aboard, beside his captain and the Doctor, to not be marked.

"No honour among pirates," Amy scoffs.

The pirate begins to shake, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Instead, he turns to barricade the door again while Peyton discreetly disarms the preteen.

• • •

On one side of the room, the final pirate paces anxiously. They assume Mulligan is long gone by now. And on the other. Two and a half humans from the future and a little boy sit huddled together.

Peyton gazes boredly at the ceiling, wondering what was taking the Doctor and Avery so long. She hoped they weren't dead. She knew the Doctor wouldn't be dead at least. His death is a fixed point in time, and she's been there.

"Peyton! Open the door!" The Doctor's muffled voice accompanied by panicked pounding break the silence and she jumps to her feet and the call to action, Amy and Rory not far behind her.

They grab a barrel each and heave it out of the way, careful not to let them fall over. Rory is the one to finally pull the door open letting the Doctor and the Pirate Captain run inside.

The Doctor snatches the medallion Toby had been fiddling with out of his hands, breathing heavily on it while spinning it in his fingers.

Peyton shares a confused look with Amy and Rory before watching him do, whatever he's doing.

He gives a thumbs up to the Captain who sighs before he rushes back out again, Avery on his tail.

Peyton slams the door closed behind them as a precaution.

Nobody in the room says anything.

• • •

"Just wait?" Rory protests. The Doctor and Avery had returned around half an hour after their strange appearance and explained to everyone how it was reflection that causes the siren to appear not just water.

Peyton and Amy had turned to each other and said 'good days and bad days' in sync, the Doctor wasn't a fan of that.

"Not my most dynamic plan, I realise," the Doctor admits.

"Tardis?" Peyton frowns.

"It's been towed."

"What?" Amy raises an eyebrow, clearly not happy with the excuse.

"Sorry. We might be stuck here for a while."

"So, you're saying that we would all just wait here below?" Rory asks, folding his arms.

"The sea is still calm. Like a mirror. If you go out on the deck, she'll rise up and attack you," Avery explains.

"It's okay. The calm won't last forever," the Doctor adds. "When the wind picks up we'll all set sail."

"Until it does, you have to hide down here."

• • •

To say this was the first time Peyton had woken up to be spooning Rory would be a lie. Many years of childhood sleepovers had destroyed any weirdness this could have between them. Except now Rory has his arm draped around Amy's waist protectively.

She can hear Avery talking softly with his son but the haze of sleep makes it hard to tell exactly what they're saying.

It is a warm night, so there is no need to snuggle closer to Rory. Instead, she rolls away from him onto her back and drifts off back into sleep.

• • •

Peyton is completely soaked now, squinting through the heavy rain and pulling on a heavy length of rope, untying it from a pole.

Captain Avery barks orders at the others but it's as if he is speaking another language. His pirate-y slang means little more than gibberish to Peyton.

"I swear he's making half this stuff up!" Amy shouts over the thunderstorm.

"What we really need is some sort of phrasebook!" Rory shouts back.

"Heave ho, you bridge rats!" Avery yells.

"'Rats' was all I could hear," Rory tries to wipe some of the water out of his eyes.

Peyton can see or hear much over the rain but a glint of something shiny causes her stop what she's doing and stare. A crown rolls down the deck, it's polished metal reflecting the light of the lightning strikes.

Nobody moves. The sound of the siren's song fills their ears.

The siren rises from the crown into the air before settling back on the deck, reaching for Toby.

"Don't let her take you!" Avery calls after his son but Toby continues to stagger toward the apparition, gazing fondly up at her face.

Peyton turns away as the young boy screams, turning to dust,

"No!" Avery roars, rushing forward, but he is too late.

Peyton throws herself onto Rory, wrapping her arms around his middle and holding tight. It's much harder when they're both soaking wet and her boots can't find any traction on the water slick wooden floor.

The Doctor races forward from the helm, scooping up the crown and tossing it overboard into the ocean.

The siren evaporates in front of him but Rory continues to struggle. "Get off!"

Her grip fails and he slips out of her arms.

"Rory!" Peyton and Amy both yell.

He staggers, slipping a little in the rain to the starboard side of the ship, where the Doctor had thrown the crown.

Peyton and Amy fight through the elements to catch up to him as he stares overboard into the restless ocean.

He doesn't see it, but they do. The boom pole swinging around behind him, knocking him overboard.

"Rory!" They scream again, reaching the railing and looking over for themselves. "I can't see him!"

"Doctor, I'm going in!" Amy tried to shrug off her wet coat but the Doctor leaps up to the helm deck to pull it back onto her.

"He's drowning. You go in after him, you'll drown too!"

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Peyton pleads, her throat tightening and hot tears mixing with the cold rain on her face.

"There's only one thing that can save him now!"

"What are you talking about!" Amy cries.

"The siren! The siren, she wants him. We have to release her!" He says. The Doctor grabs Peyton's hand and one of Amy's and drags them down the deck toward Captain Avery.

He pulls off the lid to the barrel of still water and the siren leaps out of it again.

"He's drowning! Go find him!" The Doctor yells at her. Without indication that she understands him, she leaps into the water.

"What did you do?" Peyton screams at the Doctor, now knowing for sure that Rory was dead.

"If he stays in there, he'll die," the Doctor points to the ocean. The rain, while stilling beating down heavily, lightens just slightly, making it so they don't have to yell to hear each other.

"She'll destroy him," Amy sobs.

"That thing isn't just some ravenous hunter. It's intelligent. We can reason with it. And maybe, just maybe, they're still alive somewhere. We have to follow."

"Doctor, they turned to dust," Peyton croaks, wiping her face as best she can.

"Peyton, I'm going to need you to be brave, and I'm going to need you to trust me," the Doctor says, lifting her face up to look at him. "Can you do that?"

Peyton nods, gritting her teeth. The Doctor always saves the day, she reasons with herself, why should today be any different?

"Amy, trust me?" 

"Are you mad?" Avery screws up his face.

"If we ever want to see them again, we have to let the siren take us," the Doctor says. Peyton reels back at how terrible an idea that is until she remembers that she promised she would trust the Doctor barely ten seconds ago. "We'll prick our fingers. All agreed?"

"Aye," Avery nods.

"Aye," Amy follows suit.

"Aye," Peyton says, taking a steadying breath.

"Aye!" The Doctor yells like a battle cry before picking up something presumably sharp and grabbing Avery's hand.

The Doctor turns to Amy and then Peyton to tear their skin. She lets out a hiss as her skin gives way to a steady stream of crimson blood, mixing with the rain to create a cloudy mess on her hand.

She watches as the black spot on her palm grows from a small dot to the size of a coin.

Uncertainty swells in her stomach as she realises what they have done but the feeling becomes drowned out by beautiful singing. So relaxing.

Peyton looks up to the ghostly siren in front of them. It wasn't until now that she appreciates how beautiful she is, her eyes kindly and skin so clear and soft.

A feeling of warmth runs over her body and she almost feels the rain stop around her as nothing else matters but this woman.

Something in the back of her mind tells her everything is going to be alright if she just reaches out and touches her. She follows her gut and reaches up to her, determined to receive the sweet bliss she's promising.

• • •

Peyton opens her eyes and look around, not daring to move just yet.

"Where are we?" Amy asks.

Their surroundings are, from her limited experience, akin to that of a run-down space ship. Metal and concrete walls with lots of panels and unnecessary tubing.

"We haven't moved," the Doctor says. Peyton pushes herself to sit up just so she can frown at him. "We're in exactly the same place as before."

She watches his eye line and sees what gives him that impression. Behind them are large panelled windows, showing the deck of Avery's ship. It was true, they had moved a few meters at most.

"We're in a ghost ship," Avery says as he gets to his feet, offering Peyton a hand to pull her up.

"No, it's real," the Doctor says, looking around. "Space ship trapped in a temporal rift."

"How can two ships be in the same place?" Amy asks.

"Not the same," the Doctor corrects her. "Two planes, two worlds, two cars parked in the same space. There are lots of different universes nested inside each other. Now and again they collide and you can step from one to the other."

"Okay, I think I understand," Peyton nods, eyes still transfixed out of the window.

"Good. 'Cause it's not like that at all, but if that helps," he smiles lukewarmly at her.

"Thanks," she sighs, wondering if she should expect anything different from the Doctor.

"All the reflections have suddenly become gateways," he says. He picks up something from the floor and throws it at the window. Peyton and Amy jump back, expecting it to bounce off the glass but instead it continues through and lands on the deck. "Ever look in a mirror and think you're seeing a whole other world? Well, this time it's not an illusion."

• • •

"Toby!"

"Rory!"

"The Tardis!"

Peyton and Amy run to the seemingly sleeping Rory, lying flat on a floating slab. They stand either side of him and Amy touches his face.

There are plastic restraints holding his wrists, elbows, and bare torso to the bench and a tube connected to his neck, not attached to the skin though, Peyton wonders its function.

"We have to get them out of here," Avery says.

"Wait," the Doctor instructs, taking out his sonic and scanning Toby. Peyton looks over to him but she doesn't leave Rory's side.

She turns back to him, placing a hand over his and smiling at his stupid, very not dead, face.

The Doctor joins them, scanning Rory's body, something she should have thought of as soon as she got to his side.

"He looks so well," Amy notes.

"She's keeping him alive," the Doctor says. "His brain is still active but all its cellular activity is suspended. It's not a curse. It's a tissue sample. Why get samples of people you are about to kill?" He picks up a card on the shelf next to Rory and holds it next to his palm, the marking on the card matches the one on his hand.

"Help us get him up?" Peyton nudges the Doctor. He nods and reaches for the back of Rory's neck where he assumes he'll find some way to remove the tube.

A low beeping sound fills the room and they jump back from Rory's body, very much not in the mood to be killed for a second time today.

The siren's song fills the room but Peyton doesn't feel the same magnetic pull as she did last time she was in her presence. She looks down at her right palm, something that never occurred to her to do when she awoke. The spot is gone. No dark mark blemishing the pale skin.

"She's coming," the Doctor whispers. He gestures for the three conscious people to follow him behind the curtains surrounding the room.

The Doctor pushes Peyton behind him as he cranes his neck to get a glimpse of the siren.

She sees Rory struggle against his bonds as the green glow of the creature approaches him. She places a hand above his chest and his movements become slower until he doesn't move anymore. The alarm stops.

"Anaesthetic," the Doctor mutters.

"What?" Avery frowns.

"The music. The song. She anaesthetises people and then puts their bodies in stasis."

The siren moves over to Toby where she places a hand over him too, Avery must have set off his own alarm.

The Captain, protecting his son, steps out from his hiding place and points his gun at the siren.

"No!" The Doctor yells. But Avery shoots anyway, thankfully not hitting anything corporeal.

The siren screeches and turns scarlet. Amy grips Peyton's bicep as she stumbles back in fear.

The siren stalks toward them, or rather Avery, baring sharp teeth.

Peyton doesn't even notice the Doctor sneak off until she hears a high pitched sneeze from across the room.

The siren changes direction, now marching toward the Doctor, her palms facing each other and fire like energy running between them.

"Fire! That's new," the Doctor panics, obviously realising that he hadn't thought this plan through. "What does fire do? Burn? Yes. Destroy? What else? Sterilise! I sneezed. I've brought germs in!" He pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes his nose before throwing it at the ground. The siren throws the flames down at the cloth, disintegrating it.

Amy takes this moment of distraction to run toward Rory, Peyton follows quickly.

"Amy, Peyton, stop! Don't interfere. Don't touch him," the Doctor warns. Peyton heeds his warning but Amy, being Amy, doesn't. The fiery red siren turns toward them and heads in their direction,

"Anaesthetic, tissue samples, screens, sterile working conditions... Ignore all my previous theories!"

"Yeah, well we stopped paying attention a while back," Peyton snarks, tugging at the back of Amy's coat but she won't retreat from her husband.

"She not a killer at all, she's a doctor!"

Amy pulls her hands away from her husband and the siren fades back to her greenish hue.

"This is an automated sickbay. It's teleporting everyone on board," the Doctor realises. "The crew are dead and so the sickbay has nothing to do. It's been looking after humanity whilst it's been idle. Look at her," he says approaching Rory's side. "A virtual doctor! Able to sterilise a whole room."

"Able to burn your face off," Amy adds.

"She's just an interface. Seeped through the join between the planes. Broadcast into our world. Protean circuitry means she can change her form, and become a human doctor for humans. Oh, sister, you are good!" He sends finger guns at the siren.

Amy reaches forward to touch Rory and the siren hisses, turning red again until Amy retracts her hands and she returns to normal.

"She won't let us take them," Avery says.

"She's keeping them alive but she doesn't know how to heal them," the Doctor hypothesises.

"I'm his wife for God's sake! Why can't I touch him?" Amy says through the threat of tears.

"Tell her, Amy," the Doctor instructs. "Show her your ring. She may be virtual but she's intelligent. You can't do anything without her consent," he grabs her hand and thrusts it toward the siren. "Come on, a sophisticated girl like you, that must be somewhere in your core program."

"Look, he's very ill, okay? I just want to look after him," Amy says calmly, staring at the siren intensely. "Why won't you let me near my husband?!"

The siren slowly outstretched her hand toward Amy, a ring of white light appearing around it.

"Consent form," the Doctor whispers. "Sign it, put your hand in the light. Rory's sick, you have to take full responsibility.

Amy tentatively places her hand atop the interface's palm and as soon as the two connect, she disappears in a cloud of white light.

Peyton's attentions are refocused to Rory, the Doctor sets to work with his screwdriver. Amy presses a button on the side of the bench.

Rory suddenly spasms in pain, gasping for air.

"He can't breathe, turn it back on!" The Doctor tells her.

Amy presses the button again and Rory's body stills, Peyton grabs his wrist to make sure there's still a pulse.

"What do we do? I can't just leave him here," Amy stares down sadly at her husband.

"He'll die if we take him out," Peyton wipes her eye with the ball of her hand. "He'll drown."

Amy places a hand on the side of his face and leans down close to him "Rory? Wake up."

Rory grunts and his eyes flutter open. "Where am I?" He asks.

"You're in a hospital," the Doctor says. "If you leave you might die."

"But if you don't, you'll have to stay forever," Amy sighs.

"You're saying that if I don't get up now..."

"You can never leave," Peyton reaches down to hold his hand.

"The siren will keep you safe," the Doctor assures him.

"And if I come with you?"

"Drowning, on the point of death," the Doctor informs him.

Rory's breath falters and he stares up at the roof. "I'm a nurse."

"What?" Peyton blinks.

"I can teach you how to save me," he looks between her and Amy, squeezing their hands gently.

"Hold on," Amy frowns.

"I was drowning. You just have to resuscitate me."

"Just?" Peyton laughs through tears.

"You've seen them do it loads of times in films. CPR. The kiss of life."

"Rory, this isn't a film, okay? What if we do it wrong?" Amy pointed out through her own tears.

"You won't," Rory forces a smile.

"Okay, what if you don't come back to life," Peyton reasons with him. "What if-"

"I trust you both," Rory says.

"What about him? I mean, why do I have to be the one? Why Peyton? Why do we have to save you?"

The Doctor steps away from them and toward Avery, Peyton only notices when she begins to hear his soft voice behind her.

"Because you're my girls," he forces a laugh. "And I know that you'll never give up."

He directs that last part toward Amy but the squeeze he gives Peyton fingers, assures her that she isn't being left out.

"Okay," she nods. "Tell me."

"Amy Pond, Peyton Barrett, here's your crash course on CPR," Rory begins. "Five compressions, then hold my nose closed and blow into my mouth, don't forget to tilt my head back. Oh, and when I come to, push me onto my side so I can cough up any water in my lungs." Peyton cringes a little at that and he rolls his eyes at her. "You do the compressions, Amy can kiss me."

"Thanks," Peyton laughs softly and wipe her tears yet again, Amy laughs a little too.

"You do the compressions to the beat of 'Staying Alive' by the Bee Gees, you know it. Your aunt loves it," he gazes fondly up at Amy. "It also works to the tune of 'Another One Bites the Dust' by Queen but there's a reason that we don't use that one."

They both laugh, but Peyton realises that Rory's using humour to distract from his possible death.

"Come on you know it. 'Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, staying alive, staying alive'," he sings. "Do it with me."

"Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, staying alive, staying alive," the three of them sing softly.

"I know you can do this," Rory says as the Doctor returns to Amy's side of Rory. "Of course if you muck it up I am going to be really cross. And dead."

Peyton holds back her laugh and stares down at her idiot best friend and thinks about the daunting task ahead of her.

Rory suddenly drops his confident facade, staring up at the ceiling, the fear in his eyes very obvious.

"See you in a minute," Amy promises.

Rory takes a deep breath.

Peyton, the Doctor and Amy all nod to each other.

Peyton slams the button turning off Rory's life support as the Doctor and Amy rip of his plastic restraints.

He spasms, gasping for air as the Doctor swings his legs off the slabs and he takes one arm, wrapping it around his shoulders. Amy takes the other and they heave him off the table. They run to the Tardis, growing both the doors open so they can easily bring him inside.

They set him down on the floor near the door. He's stopped spasming.

Peyton drops to her knees beside his chest and hovers over him, starting compressions.

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Staying Alive_

Amy leans over, pinching Rory's nose and holding her mouth to his.

_Staying Alive_

She leans back and Peyton resumes compressions.

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Staying Alive_

Amy gives him another kiss of life. Peyton looks up to the Doctor, who is sitting back on his heels and biting his fingernails and he stares at Rory's still body.

_Staying Alive_

The Doctor mutters something as she prepares to do compressions again but she can't hear him through the sound of her own pulse in her brain.

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Staying Alive_

Amy sobs as she leans down to breath into him.

_Staying Alive_

He's still unresponsive.

"He trusted us," Peyton whimpers, hitting her hands against his chest. "He trusted us to save him."

"You still can," the Doctor reaches across Rory's body to grip her shoulder. "You can still do this, both of you. He believes in you, Peyton, and he believed in you, Amy."

Peyton and Amy's meet eyes over Rory's body and silently agree to switch jobs. She starts compressions on his chest and Peyton counts them in her head silently.

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Staying Alive_

Peyton lowers her head down to his mouth, pinching his nose between her finger and thumb and she blows hard into his mouth.

_Staying Alive_

Peyton pushes herself back, still nothing.

Amy returns to compressions, tears streaming down her face as she does so, her red hair swinging off her shoulders wildly with her movements.

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Staying Alive_

Peyton's sobs get caught in her throat, causing her to choke before she dives back to breathe life into Rory.

_Staying Alive_

"Please, please, please, wake up," Amy sobs as she starts her compressions again.

Peyton can't form any words without the fear of breaking down. So she sits, and she counts.

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Ah_

_Staying Alive._

She leans down to breathe into Rory. His lips are now cold against hers.

Amy can't hold back the dam anymore, crying out loudly reaching a hand across Rory's chest, unable to bring herself to continue.

Peyton raises her hands to return to the compressions instead but something snaps within her before her hands touch his chest. She falls backward from her knees and onto the sides of her thighs and let out a loud sob. She throws a hand back to stop her from falling over, leaning on it and the side of her legs as she cries over the body of her best friend.

There's silence in the Tardis as the Last Centurion lies cold and lifeless on the floor.

He coughs. His chest spasms and his lungs reject the water inside. Peyton freezes in shock for a second before coming to her senses and rolling him only his side where he curls up, coughing loudly, his breathing erratic.

It only takes him a couple of seconds for his breathing to return to somewhat normal and he looks up at his wife in front of him. "Amy?" He says, voice hoarse.

"You did it!" He pushes himself up off the floor and wraps his arms around her. Peyton smiles, helping him to sit up properly.

"And you, Peyton, I knew you could both do it," he lunges at her and she buries her face in his shoulder, unapologetically wiping her tears and snot on him.

Peyton pulls back so Amy can come back in and the three hold each other tightly, promising never to let go.

Peyton lifts her head and sees the Doctor now standing and leaning against the railing of the console deck, smiling at her.

Peyton smiles back.


	19. The Day they Met the Tardis

"And then we discovered it wasn't the robot king, after all, it was the real one. Fortunately, I was able to re-attach the head."

Peyton slouches in one of the beige chairs around the console as the Doctor tells Rory the story of how they all got banned from Xiopria A, back when it had just been the Doctor, Amy, and her in the Tardis.

"Do you believe any of this stuff?" Rory asks Amy who descends the stairs from the bedrooms.

"We were there," Amy says.

Something starts beeping. "Oh! The warning lights!" The Doctor groans. "I'm getting rid of those, they never stop!"

Peyton watches from her seat as Amy and Rory walk down away from the main deck as the Doctor berates the console.

Rory had told her that Amy was obsessing over the events at Lake Silencio again. She tried to remind him that they all were. The image of the Doctor dying, even if it was two hundred years in the future, was something that Peyton thinks will be burned into her mind forever.

Then something knocks. A familiar pattern; _knock, knock, knock-knock, knock_. Peyton and the Doctor both turn to stare at the Tardis doors.

"What was that?" Amy jogs up to the deck again.

"The door," the Doctor says, still rooted to the spot. "It knocked."

"Right, we are in deep space?" Rory reappears as Peyton pushes herself up from her seat.

"Very, very deep," the Doctor mutters as he slowly starts making his way to the door, his hands raised as a precaution.

It knocks again; _knock, knock, knock-knock, knock_.

"And somebody's knocking?" Peyton decides to stay back with Rory and Amy, they were on a nice streak of safe and not life threatening situations and she didn't want to jinx it.

She watches in anticipation as the Doctor slowly opens the doors. She can't really tell, but she can see something glowing, whatever it is, is hidden from sight by the Doctor's body.

"Come here!" He laughs. "Come here, you scrumptious little beauty!"

Peyton isn't phased by his strange words, she's learnt to ignore him any time he's not instructing her on how to survive.

The Doctor reaches out to grab, whatever it is, but it flies past him and into the Tardis. Peyton ducks just in time as it soars over her head and around the console room before it flies back to the Doctor and hits him in the chest, knocking him to the floor. The thing, this cube, falls to the floor, lying still next to him.

"A box?" Peyton raises an eyebrow.

The Doctor snatches it up off the floor and looks at it intensely.

"Doctor, what is it?" Amy asks.

"I've got mail!"

"You what?" Rory scoffs.

The Doctor leaps to his feet and up to the flight deck in half a second. "Time Lord emergency messaging system," he explains, prancing around the console. "In an emergency, we wrap up our thoughts into psychic containers and send them through space and time. Anyway, there's a living Time Lord still out there, and it's one of the good ones!"

The Doctor grabs Peyton's hands, she can't help but adopt his same stupidly happy smile. Other Time Lords. This means when the Doctor... when the Doctor dies, she isn't going to be alone.

"There's more!" she laughs.

"You said there weren't any other Time Lords left," Rory points out, interrupting their moment.

"There are no Time Lords left anywhere in the universe but the universe isn't where we're going!" The Doctor lets go of Peyton's hands and starts preparing the console, tossing the glowing cube to her. "See that snake? The mark of the Corsair. Fantastic bloke. He had that snake as a tattoo in every regeneration. Didn't feel like himself without the tattoo. Or herself, a couple of times. Ooh, she was a bad girl!"

Peyton traces her finger along the image on the box. An Ouroborus, the snake eating its own tail from Norse mythology. How could a Time Lord know about, let alone appreciate to this extent, Norse mythology? Perhaps, this Corsair may have been enamoured with the little human race as well.

The Doctor throws the Tardis into flight and immediately, a shower of sparks fly out of the console and the Tardis begins to groan as it throws its occupants around.

Peyton grabs the edge of the console with her free hand to steady herself, an instinctual habit at this point.

"What is happening?" Rory yells over the groaning.

"We're leaving the universe!" The Doctor answers, a mad grin on his face.

"How can you leave the universe?" Peyton shouts, slamming the cube on the console so she has another hand to keep her balance.

"With enormous difficulty! Right now I'm burning up Tardis rooms to give us some welly. Goodbye, swimming pool! Goodbye, scullery! Sayonara, squash court seven!"

The Doctor pulls another lever that sets off a shower of sparks way too close to Peyton's face for her liking.

She only realises the Tardis has landed when everything finally goes still.

"Okay, okay. Where are we?" Amy asks, catching her breath.

"Outside the universe," the Doctor says. "Where we've never, ever been."

The Tardis lights dim and a low whirring sound gives Peyton the impression that the time machine is powering down.

"Is that meant to be happening?" Rory panics.

"It's the power," the Doctor says, fiddling with the console, trying to get something to work. "It's draining. Everything's draining! But it can't. That's... that's impossible."

A chill runs up Peyton's spine and she can see everyone else in the room affected by it too.

"What was that?" She asks nervously.

"It's as if the matrix, the soul of the Tardis, has just vanished," the Doctor looks around slowly. "Where would it go?"

• • •

As soon as they step outside the Tardis, Peyton's senses are attacked with an overwhelming feeling of discomfort.

It's humid, and the dense fog obscuring the structures around them makes them look even larger and more foreboding. Peyton's nostrils are filled with the grossly nostalgic scent of her high school locker rooms, sweat and dust intermingling in the air.

"So what kind of trouble's your friend in?" Amy asks.

"He was in a bind, a bit of a pickle," the Doctor explains vaguely. "Sort of distressed."

"You know you can just say that you don't know," Peyton says as she nudges a piece of metal, about the size of her head with her foot.

"What is this place?" Rory asks as he takes in the less than pleasant scenery. "The scrapyard at the end of the universe?"

"Not the end of, outside of," the Doctor corrects, throwing his arm around Rory's shoulders and walking back to Peyton and Amy.

"How can we be _outside_ the universe," Peyton squints her eyes at him. "The universe is everything?"

Amy inspects what seems to be a very human-looking washing machine to their right.

"Imagine a great big soap bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside."

"Okay," Peyton nods.

"Well, it's nothing like that!"

Peyton scoffs.

"Completely drained, look at her!" The Doctor complains, tapping the Tardis with the back of his knuckles.

"Wait, so we're in a tiny bubble universe, sticking to the side of the bigger bubble universe?" Amy asks.

"Yeah," the Doctor shrugs. "No! But if it helps, yes."

Peyton, Amy, and Rory all share a look that screams 'why are we friends with him?'

"This place is full of rift energy," the Doctor strokes the side as his box tenderly, Peyton rolls her eyes. "She'll probably refuel just by being here. Now this place, what do we think, ay? Gravity's almost Earth-normal, the air's breathable, but it smells like-"

"Armpits?" Amy offers as the Doctor jumps into an old bathtub.

"Armpits," he affirms.

"What about all this stuff?" Rory ponders, twirling a mobile made of coat hangers and mason jars. "Where did this come from?"

"Well, there's a rift, now and then stuff gets sucked through it," the Doctor steps out of the bathtub and continues looking around. "Not a bubble! A plug hole. The universe has a plug hole and we've just fallen down it."

"Thief! Thief!" A woman's voice cries. Peyton immediately stops touching the ancient-looking object in front of her and jumps backward. She didn't expect to have non-Corsair company.

"You're my thief!" 

Peyton catches a glimpse of the woman running toward them, or rather the Doctor, at an alarming an speed. Her dark hair seems to have been beautifully done up at some point but it has sincefallen into madness. Her blue ball gown is in a similar distressedstate.

"She's dangerous! Guard yourselves!" Another woman calls.

The madwoman grabs the startled Doctor by the shoulders, her grip is tight as he struggles to get away. "Look at you! Goodbye! No, not goodbye, what's the other one?"

She grabs him by the back of the neck and collides their lips together.

Peyton, Amy, and Rory stand to the side awkwardly as they watch the Doctor struggle against the aggressive woman, grabbing onto any loose inch of his clothes. Peyton cringes the longer it goes on.

"Watch out! Careful! Keep back from her!" A man appears beside the other woman and it's now that she gets a good look at them.

They're odd looking to say the least. They're dirty and their clothes look like they were pieced together from junk that fell through the rift. They definitely look like they've been here a long time, living amongst the garbage at the end of the universe, waiting, but for what?

The man pulls the hysterical woman away from the Doctor and smiles apologetically. "Welcome, strangers, lovely. Sorry about the mad person."

"Why am I a thief? What have I stolen?" The Doctor demands, regaining his composure.

"Me!" The woman frowns. "You are going to steal me? You have stolen me. You are stealing me. Tenses are difficult."

The first thing that occurs to Peyton is that this madwoman speaks vaguely like the Doctor. The short and disjointed sentences, the unfamiliarity with normal people. The second thing that occurs to her is that she is currently staring at her, eyes blown wide and unblinking. Peyton steps behind Rory and out of her eye line.

"Oh, we are sorry, my dove," the other woman assures the Doctor while Peyton peeks out from behind the Ponds' shoulders and watch as this crazy person walks past her. "She's off her head. They call me Auntie."

She steps forward to shake the Doctor's hand.

"Erm, I'm Uncle, I'm everybody's uncle," the man follows suit. "Just keep back from this one. She bites!"

"Do I?" The still-unnamed madwoman asks. "Excellent." She lunges toward the Doctor again and latches her mouth on his neck, causing him to cry out in agony.

Peyton and the Ponds shout in disgust as Auntie and Uncle pry the woman off the Time Lord.

"Ow!" The Doctor yells, his thin eyebrows knotting together.

"Biting's excellent! It's like kissing, only there's a winner!"

They don't have time to unpack that.

"Sorry, she's doolally," Uncle sighs.

"No, I'm not doolally!" She protests, "I'm... I'm... It's on the top of my tongue. I just had a new idea about kissing. Come here, you!"

Before the woman can launch herself at the Doctor again, he sprints behind Peyton and the Ponds, using them as a shield. The three of them outstretch their arms, motioning for her to stay back.

"Idris, no, no!" Auntie shouts, wrapping her arms around the madwoman, or rather Idris', waist.

Unable to move, Idris' eyes fall back onto Peyton. She does not appreciate the way it looks like she's tearing her apart. Her focus returns to the Doctor, ignoring the crazy lady.

"Oh, but now you're angry. No, you're not. You will be angry. The little boxes will make you angry."

Auntie's grip loosens on her waist but Idris makes no move toward the Doctor as he pushes past his human shield toward her. "Sorry? The little what? Boxes?"

Idris laughs. "Your chin is hilarious!" she taps it with a grimy finger before turning to look Rory in the eyes. "It means the smell of dust after rain."

"What does?" He stammers.

"Petrichor."

"But it didn't ask."

"Not yet, but you will."

"No, Idris. I think you should have a rest," Auntie says.

"Yes, yes, yes, good idea. I'll just, see if there's an off switch."

Idris stills, as stiff as a board and falls forward admits shouts of shock from the travellers. Rory manages to catch her in his arms and pull her up onto an old rocking chair. It was almost as if, this adult looking person had barely spent an hour being alive.

"Is that it? She's dead now? So sad," Uncle says, nodding at the limp body of his junkyard friend.

"She's still breathing," Rory reassures them after taking her pulse.

"Er, Nephew. Take Idris somewhere she can not bite people," Uncle turns to look over Peyton's shoulder. She looks away from Idris to investigate this new character.

"Oh, hello!" The Doctor chuckles, also having turned around.

Peyton recognises the creature almost instantly. An Ood. It was in the Doctor's book of 'Species That I May Be On Good Terms With If I Haven't Managed to Offend Them', so she isn't frightened, just cautious.

Everything was as illustrated in the book. The tentacle looking things, the slanted yellow eyes, even the plastic ball it uses to communicate.

"Doctor, what is that?" Amy steps back behind him when her eyes land on the Ood.

"Oh, no it's alright! It's an Ood. Oods are good, love an Ood. Hello, Ood," the Doctor walks up to it, waving. But he doesn't get a reply. "Can't you talk? Oh, I see, it's damaged. May I?" He points at the device and the Ood nods. The Doctor takes the ball and opens it up. "He might just be on the wrong frequency."

"Nephew was broken when he came here," Auntie explains. "Why, He was half dead. House repaired him. House repaired all of us."

The Doctor puts the device back together with a click and its green glow illuminates his face.

Suddenly, emitting from the orb comes a frightful noise. Many voices, each sounding lost, pained and dying fill the air. Peyton can make out one specifically.

_"If you're receiving this message, please help me. Send a signal to the High Council of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. Tell them that I am still alive! I don't know where I am. I'm on, some rock like planet..."_

The green light dims before eventually disappearing. While the voices filled the air, the Doctor had been turning on the spot listening to the voices of his people. Her people. It only took her a second to recognise that.

"What was that?" Rory asks timidly. "Was that him?"

"No, no, it's, er, picking up, something else. That's, not possible, that's, that's... Who else is here? Tell me. Show me! Show me!" The Doctor walks toward Auntie and Uncle threateningly.

"Just what you see," Auntie says. "Just the four of us, and the House. Nephew! Will you take Idris somewhere safe where she can't hurt nobody?"

The Ood brushes past Peyton's shoulder and scoops the unconscious Idris up into his arms before carrying her away. Her eyes linger on their bodies as they disappear into the heavy fog.

"House?" The Doctor asks. "What's the House?"

"House is all around you, my sweets," Auntie smiles. Uncle jumps up and down, as if proving a point they have not announced yet. "You are standing on him. This is the House. The World. Would you like to meet him?"

"Meet him?" Peyton raises an eyebrow.

The Doctor reaches behind himself to signal for her to shut up. "I'd love to."

"This way. Come, please," Uncle motions for them to follow him as he and Auntie turn their backs.

"What's wrong?" Amy asks. "What were those voices?"

"Time Lords," Peyton says looking to the Doctor for confirmation. He nods slowly before turning toward his companions, the beginnings of a smile teasing at his lips.

"It's not just the Corsair. Somewhere close by there are lots and lots of... Time Lords."

He reaches for Peyton's hand, she doesn't know if it's unconscious or not but she takes it and gives him a comforting squeeze, knowing that the excited tingle in her chest is only stronger for him. Hand in hand, with the Ponds following close behind, they begin to follow the slowly vanishing Auntie and Uncle.

• • •

"Come, come, come," Uncle ushers them into a chamber after wandering through corridor after corridor for several minutes. The chamber is lit with a green glow emanating from a grate in the ground where Auntie is already standing. The Doctor instinctively jogs up to it. "You can see House and he can look at you."

"I see," the Doctor says, leaning over the metal grate and staring into it. "This asteroid is sentient."

"We walk on his back, breathe his air. Eat his food-"

"Smell its armpits," Peyton interrupts. The smell of the junkyard only became stronger the further they delved into the structure.

_"And do my will."_

The words came out of both Auntie and Uncles mouths as they stiffened, clearly possessed by the being. The voice is low, unlike the two people in front of them.

_"You are most welcome, travellers."_

"Doctor, that voice? That's the asteroid talking?" Amy asks, trying to wrap her head around it.

"Yes," the Doctor answers simply. "So you're like a, sea urchin?" He says, speaking directly to the heap of rock below his feet. "Hard outer surface. That's the planet we're walking on. Big, squashy, piglet thing inside. That's you?"

_"That is correct, Time Lord."_

"Ah, so you've met Time Lords before?"

_"Many travellers have come through the rift, like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew. I repair them when they break."_

"So there are Time Lords here then?" The Doctor asks. Peyton begins to walk toward him but almost hits her head on a low hanging iron bar. This place was only a tad less cluttered that the outside surface but there was still a never-ending amount of junk lying around.

_"Not any more. But there have been many Tardises on my back in days gone by."_

"Oh, well, there won't be any more after us. Last Time Lords. Last Tardis," he sighs, clapping his hands once before shoving them in his pockets.

_"A pity. Your people were so kind. Be here in safety, Doctor and Peyton. Rest. Feed, if you will."_

Auntie, Uncle, and Nephew relax, the spirit of the House clearly leaving their bodies but they seem unfazed by it as if this happens regularly.

Peyton feels a little bit honoured to be acknowledged by the entity but also a little freaked out as she had not mentioned her name since they arrived.

"We're not actually going to stay here, are we?" Rory hisses in the Doctor's direction.

"Well, it seems like a friendly planet. Literally. Mind if we poke around a bit?"

"You can look all you want," Auntie says, in her natural voice this time. "Go, look. House loves you." She pats Peyton and Amy on the shoulders and they try not to cringe away at her touch.

However, Peyton does notice that her arms don't match. Literally. One is bigger and darker than the other. She dreads to think of what kind of disease this woman might have. Circulatory, she hypothesises.

"Come on then, gang. We're just going to, erm, see the sights," he twirls around towards the corridor they arrived through and Peyton follows him quickly, not eager to be left alone with Auntie, Uncle, or the Ood.

• • •

"So as soon as the Tardis is refuelled, we go, yeah?" Rory asks, quite tired of following the Doctor around aimlessly.

"No, there are Time Lords here. I heard them and they need me," the Doctor insists.

"But you told us about your people and you told us what you did," Amy says, folding her arms.

"Yes, yes. But if they're like the Corsair they're good ones and I can save them!"

"And then tell them you destroyed all the others?" Peyton raises an eyebrow,

"I can explain. Tell them why I had to."

"You want to be forgiven," she realises as the Doctor turns his back. He stiffens before sighing.

"Don't we all?" He says in such a small voice that she almost misses it.

Silence follows before Amy speaks up. "What do you need from us?"

The Doctor pats himself down. "My screwdriver. I left it in the Tardis. It's in my jacket."

"You're wearing your jacket," Rory rolls his eyes.

"My other jacket."

"You have two of those?"

"What about Peyton's sonic?" Amy asks.

"Absolutely not, I can't have her stealing all the fun. I need _my_ sonic."

"Okay, I'll get it, but, Doctor, listen to me," Amy complies. "Don't get emotional, because that's when you make mistakes."

"Yes, boss," he gives her a two-finger salute.

"I'll call you from the Tardis. Rory, look after them." She tosses the Doctor her cell and turns to walk away.

"Hey, I get him, but me?" Peyton protests playfully, as she leaves.

"Rory, look after her," the Doctor says. "You too, Peyton."

"Yeah," Rory mutters before turning to catch up to her. But Peyton stays rooted to the spot and she folds her arms, a scowl developing on her face. The Doctor halts his walk in the opposite direction and turns to look at her.

"I thought I asked you to go with them."

She pokes her head out into the corridor that the Ponds left through to make sure they aren't in earshot.

"You sent them away. You only do that when you want us out of the way."

"What? No, of course not. There's nothing dangerous here. Just a friendly old rock," he insists.

Peyton walks up to him, still looking him dead in the eye. She grabs the front of his jacket and reaches into his lining pocket where she pulls out his screwdriver. "You're a terrible liar."

He snatches the sonic back off her and raises his hands in surrender.

"So, I'll ask you again. Why did you want us gone?"

He starts walking off and but she catches up to him easily, silently demanding an answer.

"There's something, I don't know, wrong. I haven't figured it out yet. It is just a precaution. Auntie and Uncle, they were, wrong."

"Do you mean Auntie's discolouration in her arms? I saw that too. I think it might be a circulatory disease. Do you reckon they're infected? Are we at risk?" Peyton says, all very fast.

"Yes, circulatory disease, must be it," he mumbles.

The sound of Amy's mobile phone ringing distracts the Doctor and he pulls it out and presses it to his ear.

She can't hear Amy's side of the conversation but the Doctor replies quickly.

"Yeah, it's around somewhere. Have a good look."

He pulls out his sonic and it buzzes to life just for a second as Amy hangs up.

"Doctor, what did you do?" Peyton asks.

"Keeping them safe. Nothing can get through the Tardis doors."

"Do you really think that's a good-"

"And you should be with them," the Doctor interrupts. "Now, come on. Stay close."

• • •

They had been wandering for about fifteen minutes with the Doctor answering her every question bluntly. Between her interrogations, he just keeps muttering the same thing over and over again.

"Where are you?"

She iss beginning to think that it had been a false alarm, a trap even. That there was no Time Lords here, that she and the Doctor were truly alone.

That is until he stops abruptly and closes his eyes. His mumbling stops and the rise and fall of his chest slows.

Peyton doesn't bother interrupting him and instead, looks around the new room she finds herself in. Similar to the rest of the planet, it was filled with junk and dust. She runs her fingers across a mahogany table and cringes at how much dust adheres to her fingers afterwards.

The sound of the Doctor's feet moving across the room alerts her to the assortment of shawls and blankets hanging off the wall that he is walking toward. She quickly joins him as he pushes them aside to reveal a smaller side room with no other features than a metal cabinet built into the wall.

"Well, they can't all be in there," Peyton points out as the Doctor scans the room with his eyes.

He reaches up gingerly to the cabinet and pulls the doors open to reveal its contents. A dozen little cubes, just like the message cube that the Doctor received from the Corsair.

Voices like the ones she heard from Nephew's communicator flood their ears. They stare in horror as the realisation hits them. There really are no more Time Lords.

"Just admiring your Time Lord distress signal collection," the Doctor says calmly, causing Peyton to notice Auntie and Uncle who were now standing behind them. She jumps in shock as she did not realise they had appeared or how long they were following them. "Nice job, brilliant job. Really thought I had some friends here. But this is what the Ood translator picked up. Cries for help from the long dead."

He turns to face Auntie and Uncle. Peyton recognises that slightly misty look in his eyes. Complete and utter rage, brought about by deep heartache.

"How many Time Lords have you lured here, the way you lured us? And what happened to them all?"

"House, House is kind and he is wise," Auntie pleads.

"House repairs you when you break," the Doctor roars, stepping out of the side room, pushing the two of them out of his way. "Yes, I know. But how does he mend you?"

He scans Uncle up and down with his sonic.

"You've got the eyes of a twenty-year-old."

"Thank you."

"No, no. I mean it literally, your eyes are thirty years younger than the rest of you," he snatches the hat off his head. "Your ears don't match, your right arm is two inches longer than your left, and how's your dancing? 'Cause you got two left feet."

He turns to look at Peyton. "Patchwork people. Not loss of blood circulation, a literal different arm." He looks back to Auntie. "You've been repaired and patched up so often I doubt there's anything left of what used to be you. I had an umbrella like you once."

He grabs her arm but she protests. "Oh, now, it's been, it's been a great arm for me, this."

Even from Peyton's place in the shadows, her keen eyesight can spot the Ouroborus tattooed on her forearm.

"The Corsair," the Doctor stares at it intensely.

"He was a strapping big bloke, wasn't he, Uncle?"

"Big fella."

"I got the arm, and then, Uncle got the spine and the kidneys."

"You gave me hope, and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me. Basically... Run!"

Auntie scurries off without another warning but Uncle simply backs away slowly. "Poor old Time Lords. Too late. House is, too clever."

He leaves the Doctor and Peyton alone in the room together, him silently fuming and Peyton watching cautiously, knowing better than to approach him when he's like this.

Amy's phone rings.

"Time Lord stuff. Needed you out of the way," the Doctor says after listening to her speak on the other end for a few seconds. "'The boxes will make you angry.' How could she know?"

Peyton remembers Idris had said among her other rambling by the Tardis. She predicted this. Or maybe, she knew.

"Stay put, stay exactly where you are," the Doctor snaps the phone shut, reaches for Peyton's hand and drags her along as he marches down a corridor.

• • •

"How did you know about the boxes!" The Doctor demands, dropping Peyton's hand when his eyes fall on Idris sitting in a large cage. He storms up to the woman, leaving her to follow cautiously. "You said they'd make me angry. How did you know?"

"Ah, it's my thief, and the child," she says. She is sitting on the floor of her cell cross-legged and with her eyes closed as if she is meditating.

"Who are you?" The Doctor shouts.

She opens her eyes and peers up at him. "It's about time."

"I don't understand. Who are you?" He asks again.

"Do you really not know me? Just because they put me in here?"

"They said you were dangerous," he shrugs.

"Not the cage, stupid. In here," she says, leaning up the hexagonal bars and touching her face. "They put _me_ in here. I'm the... Oh, what do you call me?"

"Crazy?" Peyton offers.

She looks at her with the same curious expression as she did by the Tardis. "Isn't he just?"

She looks back up at the Doctor. "We travel. I go..." She opens her mouth and instead of any vaguely human or alien noise coming out, the sound of the Tardis groaning as it takes off flows out. But her throat and tongue never move. It's as if the sound is playing from a speaker in her oesophagus.

"The Tardis?" The Doctor chuckles sarcastically.

"Time And Relative Dimension in Space. Yes, that's it. Names are funny. It's me," she uses the bars to pull herself to her feet. "I'm the Tardis."

Peyton can't help but scoff at her bold claim.

"No you're not! You're a bitey, mad lady. The Tardis is up and downy stuff in a blue box!"

"Yes, that's me. A type 40 Tardis," she insists. I was already a museum piece when you were young, and the first time you touched my console you said-"

"I said you were the most beautiful thing I had ever known."

"And then you stole me. And I stole you."

"I borrowed you."

"Borrowing implies the eventual intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?"

The silence in the room is thick. Peyton looks between Idris and the Doctor, who has turned his back on her, waiting for his next move. Surely he couldn't believe this woman, this madwoman.

"You're the Tardis?" He asks quietly.

"Of course she's not," Peyton groans.

"The little one doubts me," she smiles sweetly at her. "Don't worry. I've seen who you are, or will see. You'll soon trust me. But can he?"

"Enough," the Doctor raises his voice. "Answer my question."

Idris', or the Tardis', words cut deep into Peyton. She concludes that no one who has met her just today would know any of that but that does not ease any amount of pain it causes her. A memory of a few months ago in America, 1969 resurfaces in her memory. What does she mean? What is it that she _is_ anyway?

"Yes," Idris nods to the Doctor.

" _My_ Tardis?"

" _My_ Doctor. Oh! We've reached the point in the conversation where you open the lock." Idris steps back from the gate.

The Doctor pulls out his sonic and points it at the cage, causing the door to fall open and Idris walks out and straight up to the Doctor.

They stand incredibly close and look each other up and down.

Now instead of just feeling upset, Peyton's now feels like the third wheel as well.

"Are all people like this?" She asks.

"Like what?" He asks, his voice slightly offended even before he knows what she's about to say.

"So much bigger on the inside. I'm... oh what is that word!" She storms away from the Doctor and begins to pace. "It's so big, so complicated. And so sad."

"But why? Why pull the living soul from a Tardis, and pop it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?" The Doctor interrogates her.

"It doesn't want me," she replies.

"How do you know?" The Doctor asks. She sniffs his jacket before he pushes her away, sniffing it himself.

"House eats Tardises."

"House _what_? What do you mean?" Peyton asks.

"I dunno. It's something I heard him say," she paces around the Doctor.

"When?" He frowns.

"In the future." 

It's funny how Peyton doesn't even bat an eyelid at a statement like that anymore.

"House eats Tardises?"

"Ha, there you go," she says before pressing a finger to his lips, which Peyton admits it is an upgrade from her face. "What are fish fingers?"

"When do I say that?"

"Any second."

"Of course! House feeds on rift energy and Tardises are bursting with it. And not raw. All lovely and cooked. Processed food. My, fish fingers," the Doctor rambles.

"Do fish have fingers?"

"But you can't eat a Tardis, it would destroy you. Unless, unless-"

"Unless you deleted the Tardis matrix first," she says.

"Ah-ha. So it deleted you," he says sarcastically.

"House can't just delete a Tardis' consciousness, that would blow a hole in the universe. So he pulls out the matrix, sticks it in a living receptacle, and then it feeds off the remaining Artron energy," she pauses and adds a dramatic gasp. "You were about to say all that. I don't suppose you have to now."

"Doctor, Amy and Rory are in there," Peyton panics. "They're going to be eaten!"

The Doctor fumbles for Amy's cell and calls the Tardis. "Amy! Rory! Get the hell out of there!" He barks.

• • •

Tardis gone. Amy and Rory gone. No way to reach them. The Doctor admitting to being out of his depth. Today just keeps getting worse and worse.

Peyton sits on a discoloured chair with her head in her hands as the Doctor paces back and forth, pacing profusely while Idris hums something to herself.

"It's time for us both to go, Uncy, together," Auntie says. The strange comment causes Peyton to look up at the two patchwork people who definitely look like they are preparing to leave. But to where? There was nothing here.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the Doctor says. "Go? What do you mean go? Where are you going?"

"Well, we're dying, my loves," Auntie says casually. "It's time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off."

"I'm against it," Uncle shrugs.

"It's your fault, isn't it sweets? 'Cause he told House it was the last Tardis. House can't feed on them if there's none more coming, can he?" Auntie says all this as she gets comfortable on her own chair, wrapping a blanket around her.

"So now he's off to your universe to find more Tardises," Uncle says, doing the same.

"It won't," the Doctor folds his arms.

"Oh, it will think of something," she smiles before falling limp.

The Doctor rushes toward her and Peyton follows close behind. He grabs at her trying to find a pulse, anything.

"Actually, I feel fine," Uncle says, getting up. But as soon as he rises to his feet, he too keens over with a horrible thump.

"Not dead! You can't just die!" The Doctor scowls.

"We need to go to where I landed, Doctor. Quickly," Idris says suddenly.

"Why?" He exasperates.

"Because we are there in three minutes," she rearranges her skirt before getting to her feet. "We need to go, now!"

She starts running toward the exit but neither Peyton or the Doctor care to follow. She cries out in pain, clutching her midsection just as she reaches the entrance.

"What's wrong?" Peyton raises her hands reflexively.

"Roughly how long do these bodies last?" She turns back to the two of them, looking very concerned.

The Doctor takes no time in whipping out his sonic screwdriver to scan her up and down. "You're dying," he says softly.

"Yes, of course I'm dying," she snatches the sonic off him. "I don't belong in a flesh body. I could blow the casing in no time. No, stop it, don't get emotional."

Peyton looks to the Doctor's face which had adopted its eye-watering pout of concern only brought on by something that truly moves the ancient man.

"Hm, that's what the orangey girl says. You're the Doctor. Focus," she reprimands, offering back his screwdriver.

"On what?" He shouts. She gives him a look. "How? I'm a madman with a box, without a box! I'm stuck down the plughole at the end of the universe, on a stupid old junkyard! Oh"

"Oh, what?" Peyton asks, hoping that it was one of his 'oh, I have an idea' sort of 'oh's.

"I'm not."

"Not what?" Peyton folds her arms.

"'Cause it's not a junkyard. Don't you see, it's not a junkyard."

"What is it then?" Idris asks.

"It's a Tardis junkyard. Come on!" The Doctor marches toward Peyton with newfound optimism and grabs her arm before heading to the exit. "Ooh, sorry, do you have a name?"

In Peyton's head, she has been switching between referring to her as either Idris or the Tardis but it was beginning to confuse her a little.

"Seven hundred years, finally, he asks," she says, turning to Peyton and rolling her eyes.

"But what do we call you?"

"I think you call me, sexy."

The Doctor turns a bright shade of red, looking at Peyton out of the corner of her eye. She can't help a little chuckle. "Only when we're alone."

The Tardis looks at her. "Maybe not in front of the child."

"Hey!"

• • •

"A valley of half-eaten Tardises," the Doctor says as they stand on a mound of dirt and other debris, looking out across a foggy wasteland of metal. "Are you two think what I'm thinking?"

"I'm thinking that all of my sisters are dead. That they were devoured, and that we are looking at their corpses," the Tardis says mournfully.

"Ah, sorry. No, I wasn't thinking that."

"No. You were thinking you could build a working Tardis console out of broken remnants of a hundred different models," the Tardis guesses, or she knows.

"Doctor, surely that's impossible," Peyton reasons.

"He's also thinking that he doesn't care if it's impossible," the Tardis answers for the Doctor.

"It's not impossible as long as we're alive," he looks out over the valley, the fire of determination burning bright in his eyes. "Rory and Amy need me, they need us. So yeah, we're gonna build a Tardis."

• • •

"Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter," the Tardis instructs.

"Yes, yes, I have actually rebuilt a Tardis before, you know. I know what I'm doing!"

The Doctor drags a large piece of wall across the ground using a cable as rope. Peyton did offer to help, but he sent her with the Tardis, helping her find all the little pieces so she could tell her what they did.

 _"The best way to learn how to fly is to build your ship from scratch,"_ the Doctor had said. _"To fly a Tardis you have to know what every little component does."_

 _"Doctor, you don't know what half the buttons on your console do,"_ Peyton snarked back, only exaggerating a little bit.

He wandered off after that.

"You're like a nine-year-old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom," the Tardis doesn't look up from a Galifrayen motherboard she has found on the ground. She dusts it off. "And you never read the instructions."

"I always read the instructions!" He insists.

"There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for seven hundred years. What does it say?"

"That's not instructions!"

"There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?"

"'Pull to open'."

"Yes, and what do you do?"

"I push!"

"Every single time. Seven hundred years," she looks to Peyton, shaking her head. "Dear, you're not off the hook either, you do the same. Police Box does open out the way."

The Doctor throws the cable from his shoulder and onto the ground aggressively. "I think I've earned the right to open my front doors any way I want!"

"Your front door? Have you any idea how childish that sounds?"

"You are not my mother!" He growls, storming away from her.

"And you are not my child!" She retaliates.

Peyton begins to feel as if she were a child caught between her parents arguing. It was really quite scary. The hours were ticking by and she could hardly tell if they were any closer to saving Amy and Rory.

"You know, since we're talking with mouths, not really an opportunity that comes along very often, I just want to say, you know, _you_ have never been very reliable."

"And you have?"

"You didn't always take me where I wanted to go."

"No, but I always took you where you needed to go."

This makes the Doctor halt, his back still turned to the human Tardis. A moment of dreadful silence is finally broken by the Doctor. "You did. Look at us talking!" And just like that, the Doctor's mood changes instantaneously. "Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk? Even when you're stuck inside the box?"

"Not if your every conversation is like that," Peyton mumbles, thankfully neither of them hear her comment.

"But you know I'm not constructed that way," she protests. "I exist across all of space and time, and you talk and run around and bring home strays."

Peyton receive a once over glance from her as she says this. "I am _not_ a stray," she argues.

The Tarfid falls forward but the Doctor catches her swiftly.

"You okay?" He whispers.

"One of the kidneys has already failed," she admits. "It doesn't matter. We need to finish assembling the console."

"Using a console without a proper shell? It's not going to be safe," the Doctor grimaces.

"This body has about eighteen minutes left to live. The universe we're in will reach absolute zero in three hours. Safe is relative."

"Then we need to get a move on, aye old girl," the Doctor races to grab the cable again to keep dragging the wall.

"Come along, child," the Tardis says to Peyton.

"I'm not your child either," she points out.

"But you may as well be, you have grown more inside my walls than you have in your short life," she doesn't look up at her as she starts assembling more pieces of the rag-tag console.

"What did you mean before," ask quietly. "When you implied that the Doctor will never trust me?"

"I didn't imply that my dear," she places a hand on her cheek. "The Doctor is still unaware of exactly how you came to be and can you blame the man for being cautious."

"I know, I know. My father," Peyton sighs.

"And there will come a time where the trust he has built for you will come crashing down but it is your duty to make sure you help him, hand in hand, build it back up," she pulls her hand away and smiles sadly at her.

"Wait, What? What do you mean? What is going to happen?" Peyton grabs her wrist to get her attention.

"You know I'm not going to tell you that," she chuckles, rolling her eyes. "But he loves you, so much more than your biological father could ever have the capacity to. Remember that, it might just save your life."

Peyton doesn't try her anymore, knowing to shut up. She looks up to the Doctor who is only a few feet away now. She smiles weakly. She can tell he's not great at showing it but she does get the sense he cares for her a great deal. When he's teasing her, or babying her, or teaching her to fly the Tardis, he's showing her in his own way that he cares.

"Now pass me that Hydron Quantifier," the Tardis requests.

• • •

Peyton scoffs at the pile of junk the Doctor is calling a Tardis. It only has two walls and a very shabby looking imitation of a console, the roof threatens to fall on them at any moment.

He elbows her in the side before handing her one end of a large red cable. Peyton attaches it to a socket underneath the console and underwhelmingly, nothing happens.

"Right, okay. Let's go," the Doctor says, behind his bravado even she can detect a hint of shakiness. "Follow that Tardis!"

Peyton grips onto the edge of the rickety console, she feels it move under her hands. She braces for death.

He pulls down on the coat hanger by his face and a shock of energy runs through the machine but quickly dissipates. She are surprised anything happened at all really.

"Ah no, come on? There's rift energy everywhere, you can do it!" The Doctor groans. "Okay, diverging all power to thrust. Let's be having ya!"

Peyton watches the Tardis pinch and pull at her cheeks in a small mirror across the other side of the console as the Doctor fiddles with the machinery.

Sparks fly out of Peyton's side of the console, causing her to jump back with a shriek.

"No, no, no, no!"

"What wrong?" Peyton asks, quite eager to save her friends and the Tardis.

"It can't hold the charge. I can't even start it," he rants. "There's no power!"

He catches the Tardis fiddling with her bottom lip and throws his hand over the mirror. This gets her attention and she looks at him with a puzzled expression

He looks to his other side at Peyton with his big sad eyes. "I've got nothing," he practically whimpers.

They are going to be alone on this sentient rock with the Doctor forever. She'll die first, whether of starvation or by natural causes, leaving the Doctor alone for another couple hundred years on this rock. Is that comforting? Not really.

"Oh my beautiful idiot," the Tardis smiles. "You have what you've always had. You've got me."

She touches a finger to her lips and her eyes begin to glow golden. Energy flows from her mouth and around the tip of her finger as she reaches for the console. It's the same energy she's seen bursting out of the Doctor, back by Lake Silencio.

The magic ingredient of the Gallifrayens.

The familiar sound of the Tardis humming to life and taking flight has never sounded so sweet in Peyton's ears. The wind picks up around them, forcing Peyton to reset her grip on the console as it threatens to tear her away.

She squeezes her eyes tight. Into the vortex, you go.

"Whoo-hoo!" The Doctor exclaims as the rickety Tardis spins through the vortex. Peyton dares to open her eyes. 

From inside the regular Tardis, they are protected from the vortex by having more than two walls. Seeing the inner workings of space and time itself in this way is so mesmerising. The colours and patterns rushing past them capture Peyton's attention if it weren't for the very imminent fear of falling off she would have pulled away from the console to get a better look.

"We've locked on to them!" The Tardis yells. "They'll have to lower the shields when we're close enough to phase inside."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Peyton shouts against the wind.

"Can you get a message to Amy?" The Doctor ignores her. "The telepathic circuits are online."

"Which one's Amy?" The Tardis frowns as she hangs off the console. "The pretty one?"

She grabs the circuit interface and yells into it. "Hello pretty!"

"Don't worry! Telepathic messaging," the Doctor says as he leans over to the interface. "No, that's Rory."

Peyton chuckles a little. 

"You have to go to the old control room," the Tardis instructs. "I'm putting the route in your head. When you get there, use the purple slider on the nearest panel to lower the shields."

"The pretty one?" The Doctor frowns.

"You'll have about twelve seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading matrix. I'll send you the passkey when you get there. Good luck!"

"How are they going to be able to take down the shields anyway?" Peyton asks, her throat starting to ache from all the yelling. "The House is in the control room, isn't it?"

"I directed him to one of the old control rooms," the Tardis explains before a shower of sparks narrowly missing her causing her to jump out of the way

"There aren't any old control rooms. They were all deleted or remodelled!" The Doctor insists.

"I archive them. For neatness. I've got about thirty now," the Tardis corrects him as he lunges across the desktop to pull a lever.

"But I've only changed the desktop, what, a dozen times?"

"So far, yes."

"You can't archive something that hasn't happened yet!" Peyton jumps in to protest.

" _You_ can't."

• • •

They're thrown to the floor with their ears ringing from the immense noise of their landing in the Tardis, their Tardis.

"Doctor! Peyton!" She hears Amy call. Thank God she's alive. Peyton looks up and sees Rory's dopey face right beside her. She should have known it would have taken more than just some megalomaniacal asteroid to kill her best friends.

The Doctor jumps up to hug Amy and she follows close behind, pushing herself up from the floor to launch herself into Rory's arms. He chuckles lightly in her ear from the force of her landing against his chest.

"Not good. Not good at all," the Tardis mumbles behind her. Peyton turns away from Rory and rushes back to her to help her to their feet. "How do you walk around in these things?"

The Doctor runs to their other and leads them both toward the console to set the Tardis down safely.

Peyton looks around. The room is undeniably a console room, she assumes from the Doctor's past. It's poorly lit and sort of grungy. Stone looking pillars frame the room and give the place a cave-like feel. She is glad that whatever phase the Doctor was in when he used this room is over.

"Uh, hold on," the Doctor says to them before turning back to the very confused looking humans. "Amy, Rory, this is well, she's my Tardis. Except she's a woman. She's a woman, and she's my Tardis."

"She's the Tardis?" Amy points a finger at her as the poor visibly struggles to keep her breathing even.

"And she's a woman. She's a woman and she's the Tardis."

"Did you wish really hard?" Amy asks, making Peyton chuckle a little.

"Shut up! Not like that," the Doctor says defensively.

"Hello," the Tardis gets to her feet. "I'm, Sexy."

"Still shut up!" The Doctor glares at Amy.

"The environment has been breached. Nephew, kill them all," the omnipresent voice of the House fills their ears, the menacing words send a chill down Peyton's spine.

"Where's Nephew?" Rory says a little panicked.

"He was standing right where you materialised," Amy points.

"Ah, well, he must have been redistributed," the Doctor says.

"Meaning what?" Rory asks suspiciously.

"You're breathing him," he smiles oddly.

"Eurgh," Amy cringes in disgust while Rory scrunches his nose. Peyton frowns and begins to consciously take much shallower breaths.

"Another Ood I failed to save," the Doctor says but before Peyton can reprimand him on being ominous, the House interrupts.

_"Doctor, Peyton, I did not expect you."_

"Well, that's us all over, isn't it?" He begins to walk around his old console. "Lovely old unexpected us."

_"The big question is, now you're here, how to dispose of you? I could play with gravity."_

Peyton's legs give way as they are pulled to the floor by an invisible force. The pressurising of the gravity causes her head to pound and every part of her body to feel as though it is under a giant weight.

And as quickly as it came, the sensation leaves and she jumps to her feet, leaning onto the edge of the console to steadies herself as she feels a bit dizzy. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the Tardis fall to the ground and Rory instinctively rushes to her side.

_"Or I could evacuate the air from this room and watch you choke."_

Peyton grabs the front of her collar as she tries to take a breath but no air enters her lungs, as if there was something blocking her throat. Tears prick in her eyes, she can hear her pulse in her brain and her hearts furiously pumping the little oxygen in her body to the organ.

_"Why shouldn't I just kill you know."_

Air fills her lunges and she falls back onto the console again. She looks toward Rory who is taking the pulse of the unconscious Tardis.

"Because then I won't be able to help you!" The Doctor gasps for air. Peyton glares at him for even suggesting to help this parasite. He's always doing that, the selfless idiot. "Listen to your engines. Just listen to them. You don't have the thrust and you know it. Right now I'm your only hope for getting out of your little bubble, through the rift and into my universe. And mine's the one with the food in it. You just have to promise not to kill us. That's all, just promise."

"You can't be serious," Peyton says through panting breaths.

"I'm very serious. I'm sure it's an entity of its word."

"Doctor, she's burning up," Rory calls as he pulls the Tardis' head into his lap to elevate it. "She's asking for water."

Clearly not unconscious anymore then.

The Doctor crosses the room to crouch by the frail body of the Tardis, looking down at her with concern evident on his face.

"Hey," he whispers, placing a hand on the side of her face and holding her hand. "Hang in there, old girl. It'll be over soon."

"I always liked it when you call me old girl," the Tardis says and it is clear to Peyton that every word causes her pain.

Amy leans against Peyton's arm as they both watch Rory and the Doctor hold the Tardis' human body. She grabs her hand and give it a light squeeze.

_"You want me to give my word? Easy. I promise."_

Peyton thinks to herself that the House took a suspiciously long time to answer but before she can bring that up the Doctor speaks.

"Fine. Okay. I trust you. Just delete, ooh, thirty percent of the Tardis rooms, you'll free up thrust enough to make it through. Activate sub-routine Sigma-Nine."

"Doctor," Peyton hisses at him under her breath. She can't believe he's actually letting this thing out into the universe.

_"Why would you tell me this?"_

"Because we want to get back to our universe as badly as you do," the Doctor says, getting to his feet. "And I'm nice."

Peyton exchanges worried, oh-shit-we're-definitely-going-to-die-this-time glances with Rory and Amy before looking down to the Tardis who iss mumbling something again, but only loud enough that Rory could hear.

_"Yes. I can delete rooms. And I can also rid myself of vermin if I delete this room first. Thank you, Doctor, very helpful."_

Peyton's breath catches in her throat and she stares up at the Doctor in bewilderment. What is going on?

_"Goodbye, Time Lords. Goodbye, little humans. Goodbye, Idris."_

A bright light fills the room and Peyton lifts her hand to block it from her eyes. This is it. The Doctor's death sentence. At least she won't miss out on much because the House is just going to destroy the universe anyway. The light gets so bright that even behind her hand, her eyes are forced closed.

And then they open again and she blinks once before she realises she's not dead or discorporated, they're in the console room, the familiar console room. The room is bathed in an eery green light which she can only assume is the House's doing.

"Yes, I mean you could do that, but it just won't work," the Doctor says. "Hardwired fail-safe. Living things from rooms that are deleted, are automatically deposited in the main control room. But thanks for the lift!"

_"We are in your universe now, Doctor. Why should it matter to me in which room you die? I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me; I've killed hundreds of Time Lords."_

"Fear me; I've killed all of them."

The Doctors words send chills up Peyton's spine. Sometimes she forgets to see through the man's mask of idiotic optimism and that there is a darkness in him that only shows in the dearest of times. It almost makes her frightened. Almost.

"Yeah, you're right. You've completely won," the Doctor changes note. His words cause her heart to drop but the insincerity in his face causes her to frown. What is he planning? "Oh, you can kill us in oodles of really inventive ways, but before you kill us, allow me and my friends Peyton, Amy, and Rory to congratulate you on being an absolutely worthy opponent."

He pulls Amy up from sitting on the stairs and ushers them over to his side of the console and starts clapping.

Fearing for her life, Peyton and Amy start clapping too. Then it hits her, he's stalling. But what could he be waiting for?

"Congratulations," Peyton tries to muster as much sincerity as possible.

Peyton looks over to Rory and the Tardis who are still on the floor. They seem to be talking but Rory is becoming more and more confused and frustrated.

Their clapping dies down after several seconds pass with no response from the House.

"Yep, you've defeated us, me and my lovely friends here. And last, but definitely not least, the Tardis matrix herself, a living consciousness you _ripped_ out of this very control room and locked her up in a human body. And look at her!"

The Doctor's anger begins bubbling behind his eyes as he raises his voice at the House, his incessant hand movements become more jagged and accusatory.

"Doctor, she's stopped breathing," Rory says with a large gulp. His very human soul grappling with the horror of death even through his years of professional medical training.

_"Enough, that is enough."_

Peyton and Amy make their way over to Rory and the Tardis. She looks down at her pale face in Rory's lap and sigh.

"No. It's never enough. You forced the Tardis into a body so she'd burn out safely a very long way from this control room!" The Doctor's anger fuelled rant continues. Peyton takes this as a good sign because so far, his anger fuelled rants have gotten them out of many life-threatening situations. "A flesh body can't hold the Tardis matrix and live. Look at her body, House."

_"And you think I should mourn her?"_

"No," the Doctor says darkly. "I think you should be very, _very_ careful about what you let into this control room."

The Tardis' whole body convulses and rolls off of Rory's lap, the sudden movement from the supposedly dead body causes the three of them to jump back.

Golden light spews from her mouth, rising into the air, swirling and glittering as it scatters above them. The sound of the Tardis soaring into the Vortex comes with it, filling their ears with the sweet sound of comfort.

"You took her from her home. But now she's back in the box again, and she's free!" The Doctor smiles.

Peyton connects the pieces in her head. This is what the Doctor was stalling for. He needed the Tardis' body to die so the matrix would be free. Other than the slightly morbid implications, it was genius.

_"No! Doctor, stop this!"_

The golden light weaves its way around the console, looping around every lever and knob.

Peyton pulls herself to her feet and watches in amazement at the sheer magic occurring in front of her eyes.

_"Argh! Stop this now!"_

"Oh, look at my girl, look at her go! Bigger on the inside!" The Doctor laughs, throwing his hands up in the air. "See, House-"

_"Make her stop."_

"-that's your problem. The size of a planet, but inside you're just, so, small!

_"Make it stop!"_

The Tardis stops producing light but the deed has been done. The golden flame of the Galifreyans continues to dance around the room, filling its natural home once more.

"Finish him off, girl," the Doctor points to the ceiling.

The green light of the console room fades to nothing and darkness falls over Peyton's eyes.


	20. The Day they Found Out that Amy Wasn't There at All

"Behold," the Doctor booms, stepping out of Tardis. "A cockerel! Love a cockerel."

Peyton follows him out of the time machine and finds herself in front of an old stone building. A medieval monastery by the looks of it.

Still frazzled by the solar storm, she looks up to the sky, her hand held above her eyes to block the sun from her eyes to see the clouds painted with the most beautiful colours of orange and pink, reminding her of a sunset despite the sun still hanging high in the sky.

"And underneath, a monastery, thirteenth century," the Doctor continues.

"Ooh, we've gone all medieval," Amy says, looking up at the monastery as she pulls the Tardis door closed behind her.

"I'm not sure about that," Rory scoffs. Peyton is about to object until she hears the sound of music drifting from the building. Modern music.

"Really? Medieval expert are you?" Amy raises an eyebrow.

"No, it's just that I can hear Dusty Springfield."

Peyton spies the Doctor walking towards a set of steps, leading up to what she assumes is the courtyard and follows him. She notices that the ground is soaking wet and that her boots start to sink into the soil if she stays in one place too long, something that she would associate with recent and heavy rainfall, but none of the buildings are wet, leaving her baffled.

An ill-timed misstep almost sends her face-first into the slushy earth if Amy hadn't caught her arm to pull her upright.

The shallow hole in the ground that was the cause of her stumble seems incredibly out of place, exposing the pipe that runs through it and disappears into the earth on either sideeither side. The PVC pipe has the words DANGER CORROSIVE clearly printed on it and she doesn't need to be told twice.

"These fissures are new," the Doctor says, appearing at their side. "Solar tsunami sent out a huge wave of gamma particles. This is caused by a magnetic quake that occurs just before the wave hits.

"Well, the monastery's still standing," Amy shrugs. Peyton watches the Doctor pull a snow globe out of his pocket. She doesn't bother asking how he got it in there or why he has it, asking questions about the weird things he does turns into lectures.

He shakes it, studying closely. "Yeah, for now."

"So, thirteenth-century monastery connected to pipes carrying corrosive material. What do you think they're doing in there?" Peyton asks.

"It's a supply pipe," the Doctor deduces, flicking his screwdriver at it. "Scan it for me."

Peyton nods and fishes her sonic pen from her pocket. With a swish, she scans the tube, the base of the pen lighting up blue. "Ceramic inner lining," she says as she inspects the readings. "Carrying something very corrosive. Something nasty is being pumped off this island."

"But it's a monastery, with cute little monks," Amy objects as Peyton tucks her sonic away and the Doctor gives her a pat on the shoulder.

"A monastery in the 22nd century. Who knows who's living in these walls," the Doctor says quietly.

No one says anything for a few seconds, either looking down at the pipe or up at the intimidating stone wall.

"My mum's a massive fan of Dusty Springfield," Rory mutters.

"Who isn't?" The Doctor shrugs but before Peyton can raise her hand he continues. "Right, lets go satisfy our rabid curiosity."

• • •

"Ow!" Rory exclaims. Peyton looks over to him, watching with a raised eyebrow as he shakes his hand erratically and deduces she deduces he had touched the pipe in front of him, like an idiot.

"Acid. They're pumping acid off this island. That's old stuff. Fresh acid, you would have a finger," the Doctor explains. 

Amy takes Rory's hand to inspect it as the Doctor playfully hits him on the back of the head with his screwdriver.

Peyton rolls her eyes at him as he turns to enter the monastery. But as he does, alarms begin to sound from speakers they can't see.

"INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT"

"There are people coming. Well, almost."

"Almost coming?" Amy frowns.

"Almost people."

"Doctor, you're doing it again," Peyton sighs, but he runs off with Amy following close behind him. She hates it when he's being ominous. 

"I think we should probably be going," Rory says, still nursing his hand.

"Come on!" Peyton grabs his arm and jogs to catch up with Amy and the Doctor.

"I'm telling you, when something runs towards you, it's never for a nice reason!"

• • •

Before they even enter the room Peyton can see that it's a dead end. They had just been following the Doctor through the maze of hallways, quick to follow his erratic turns and pace.

"Doctor, where are we," she glares at the back of his head as he begins to slow down.

"And what are all these harnesses for?" Amy asks.

Peyton looks around the stone room and sees people, all dressed in the same orange jumpsuit, seemingly asleep and strapped to machines. The blaring alarm seems not to phase the unconscious bodies and she inspects one curiously.

"The almost people?" Rory offers sarcastically.

"What are they?" Peyton asks. "Prisoners? Or are they meditating, or what?"

"Well, at the moment they fall into the 'or what' category," the Doctor answers, being completely unhelpful, as he so often is.

"Halt, and remain calm." A voice over the PA system stops the droning alarm and silence falls in the castle.

"Well, we've halted. How are we all doing on the calm front?" The Doctor mutters.

The sound of footsteps getting closer distracts Peyton from answering as three figures burst into the room. "Don't move!"

All three share the same orange colour scheme as the people in the harnesses, this time wearing jackets and pants instead of the jumpsuit. The first two, men, hold out large spear-like weapons while the third, woman, follows at a safe distance, seemingly unarmed.

"Stay back, Jen. We don't know who they are," the second man says. Peyton frowns, he looks incredibly familiar.

A crawling sensation tickles Peyton's spine and she very slowly turns her head to the nearest machine where she sees the unconscious man in it is identical to the one in front of her threatening to impale her.

"So let's ask them, who the hell are you?" Jen says angrily.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Peyton, and Amy and Rory, and this is all very nice, isn't it," the Doctor says cheerily.

"Hold up," Amy interrupts. "What are you all, like identical twins?"

This causes the three of them to falter in confusion before they are distracted by a new voice.

"This is an Alpha grade industrial facility. Unless you work for the military or for Morpeth Jetsan, you are in big trouble."

The woman who enters is wearing a very steampunk-esque hazmat suit, accompanied by a man also wearing one.

"Actually," the Doctor says, sauntering up to her and reaching into his inside pocket. "You're in big trouble."

He whips out his psychic paper, causing her to frown. "Meteorological department?" She snatches it from him. "Since when?"

"Since you were hit by a solar wave."

"Which we survived."

"Just, by the looks of it. And there's a bigger one on the way."

"Which we'll also survive. Dicken, scan for bugs."

"Backs against the wall. Now," Dicken, the man with her, nods to the four time travellers and raises a scanner.

The Doctor raises his hands and nods to them to follow the order.

"You're not a monastery. You're a factory. Twenty-second century, army-owned factory," he says, leaning casually against the stone wall.

"You're army?" Amy asks.

"No, love, we're contractors and you're trespassers," the woman, Peyton's decides that she is probably the boss around her, says with an eye roll as Dicken makes his way along the four intruders, raising and lowering the device.

"It's clear, boss." And proved right again. The Doctor immediately pushes himself off the wall.

"Alright weatherman, your ID checks out," she says reluctantly. "If there's another solar storm, what are you going to do about it? Hand out sunblock?"

The Doctor laughs, pinching the psychic paper from her hand. "I need to see your critical systems."

"Which one?" She replies coyly.

"You know which one."

Peyton sighs, swearing to God that if he says something ominous one more time that she is going to hit him.

• • •

The woman, now free of her hazmat suit, holds her arm out to signal to their guests not to go any further. The Doctor does anyway.

The room is dark, the only light pouring in from a small window covered by slatted shutters. Peyton can hear a quiet dripping from somewhere and muses to herself about how this would never pass a twenty-first century Health and Safety inspection.

"And there you are," the Doctor whispers, crouching by the side of the large basin that takes the centre of the room.

Perhaps the size of a hot tub, the ceramic white bowl is held in place by metal brackets and has a small metal tub attached to it pointing toward the balcony. Inside the main pool, a thick white liquid fills it almost to the brim. Peyton furrows her eyebrows and steps from behind the woman's arm to join the Doctor. He gives her a disapproving look that persuades the Ponds to stay safely behind the woman.

"Meet the government's worst kept secret. The Flesh," she says with a sigh. "It's fully programmable matter. In fact, it's even learning to replicate itself at the cellular level."

"Right. Brilliant. Lost," Amy frowns.

"Okay. Once a reading's been taken, we can manipulate its molecular structure into anything. Replicate a living organism down to the hairs on its chinny chin chin. Even clothes. And everything's identical; eyes, voice-"

"Mind? Soul?" The Doctor interrupts.

"Don't be fooled, Doctor, it acts like life but it still needs to be controlled by us, from those harnesses you saw," the woman says sharply.

"Wait, whoa, hold it," Rory looks back and forth between all the workers in the room. "So, you're Flesh now?"

"I'm lying in a harness back in that chamber," she turns to him. "We all are except Jennifer here. Don't be scared. This thing, just like operating a forklift truck."

"You said it could grow. Only living things grow," Peyton runs her fingers across the edge of the basin. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the Doctor's warm smile.

"Moss grows. It's no more than that," she counters, Peyton to frowns, looking down at the Flesh. "This acid is so dangerous we were losing a worker every week. So now we mine the acid using these doppelgangers. Or Gangers. If these bodies get burnt or fall in the acid-"

"Then who the hell cares," Buzzer shrugs. They also learned his name, or rather his nickname, when they exchanged pleasantries on the way here. "Right, Jen?"

Jen looks slightly uncomfortable before speaking up. "Nerve endings automatically cut off like, airbags being discharged. So we wake up and get a new Ganger."

A sudden bubble bursting on top of the fluid frightens Peyton for a second and the Doctor draws his sonic reflexively.

"It's weird, but you get used to it," Wicks adds.

"Jennifer, I want you in your Ganger," Cleaves says. "Get back to your harness."

Jennifer seems apprehensive before nodding slightly and leaving the room without a word.

The Doctor begins scanning the Flesh with his sonic, the buzzing sound echoing loudly around the room.

"Hang on. What's he up to?" Wicks frowns.

"What you up to, pal?" Buzzer asks.

Peyton looks to the Doctor whose face turns quickly from calm curiosity to pained struggle. His stance changes and it seems like he's trying to pull away but is unable to, as if he was drawn to it like a magnet. "Stop it!" He says through clenched teeth.

Peyton reaches for her own sonic, pointing it at the goop and scanning for whatever could be doing this. Life? AI? But she too quickly finds herself being pulled in and she fights to keep her hand above the Flesh.

The Doctor pulls free of the pull and quickly wraps one arm around Peyton's middle and the other hand around her wrist, pulling her away. Peyton smiles at him through heavy pants thankfully.

"That was freaky," she shivers. "It was like-"

"-For a moment there it was scanning us," he interrupts her, vocalising what she was thinking.

He places his hand just above the Flesh.

"Doctor," Cleaves warns but he doesn't pay her much attention.

He touches his palm to the liquid and grimaces in pain.

"Get back, Doctor, leave it alone!" Cleaves orders.

The Doctor's face contorted in agony and she can't stand it any longer, lunging for his hand and ripping it from the basin. As she does so, Peyton"s fingers inadvertently submerged into the flesh and the sensation is like nothing she's ever felt.

Usually, if one was to burn their hand on something this hot, it would damage the nerve endings in the affected area. But whatever was in this stuff, did not destroy Peyton's nerve endings, letting her feel the full force of the momentary pain and leaving it pulsing and aching even after removing it.

And usually hot liquid didn't invade people's minds and snoop around in there. It was strange. Like a living presence passing through her head. The feeling makes Peyton a little bit sick actually.

"I understand," the Doctor whispers.

"Doctor, Peyton," Amy says, worried. "You alright."

"Incredible," the Doctor answers.

"That's not what I'd call it," Peyton says, grimacing and shaking her hand.

"You have no idea, no idea," the Doctor continues. "I mean, I felt it in my mind. I reached out to it, and it to me."

"Don't fiddle with the money, Doctor," Cleaves sighs.

"How can you be so blinkered? It's alive. So alive. Peyton, you felt it too, didn't you?" The Doctor turns to her wild-eyed. She nods, gulping back the bile that threatens to creep up her throat. "You're piling your lives, your personalities directly into it." The Doctor pulls the snow globe out of his pocket again as a crack of what Peyton initially thinks is thunder cracks in the sky above.

"It's the solar storm," the Doctor says. "The first waves come in pairs. Pre-shock and fore-shock. It's close."

"Buzzer, we got anything from the mainland yet? Cleaves asks. The Doctor storms away from where he was standing and instead of following him, Peyton makes her way back to Amy and Rory who were both looking very concerned for her. She shrugs, shaking her hand for good measure. It only dully aches now. Rory tries to reach for her hand, his nursing reflexes kicking in, but she bats him away.

"No, the comms are still too jammed with radiation," he reports.

"Okay, then we'll keep pumping acid until the mainland says stop," Cleaves says. "Now, why don't you stand back and let us impress you?"

Peyton raises an eyebrow in her direction.

The sound of running water causes them to look down, but it's not water Peyton sees. The white Flesh starts pouring into the smaller rectangular basin through a small spout in its side, splashing to the bottom and slowly rising up.

It only takes a few minutes for the liquid to cease rising, forming a completely still and opaque white surface, textured by dark lines, reminding Peyton of veins, running through it.

She gasps as she sees the impression of a face appear near the top of the face and a mouth opens, sucking in air harshly.

The eyes freak her out the most. They snap open. Grey irises with pupils blown wide, quickly tightening in reaction to the light.

The Flesh seemingly drains, revealing the outline of a body, even clothes in the basin. Black hair, uniform, it was clearly a copy of Jennifer, besides its complexion providing similarities to Lord Voldemort.

Suddenly the Flesh morphs to the colour of caucasian skin and Jennifer sits upright suddenly, gripping the sides of the basin before sighing.

"Well, I can see why you keep it in a church," the Doctor says, fiddling with his hands. "The miracle of life."

"No need to get poncey," Buzzer says. "It's just gunge."

"Guys, we need to get to work," Cleaves sighs and Wicks leans foreword to help the Ganger Jennifer out of the tub,

"Okay, everybody, let's crack on."

Another thunderous roar of the storm outside crashes against their eardrums.

"Did I mention the solar storm?" The Doctor asks passive-aggressively as another wave shakes the building. "You need to get out of here."

"Where do you want us to go?" Wicks shrugs. "We're on a tiny island."

"I can get you all off it," the Doctor answers.

"This is ridiculous. We've got a job to do," Cleaves insists.

"It's coming," the Doctor says as an alarm blares over the PA.

"That's the alarm," Jennifer bites her lip.

"How do you get power?" The Doctor asks.

"We're solar," Cleaves says. "We use a solar router. The weathervane."

"Big problem," the Doctor sighs, looking at Peyton exasperatedly.

"Boss, maybe if the storm's back we should get underground. The factory's seen better days. The acid pipes might not withstand another hit," Wicks says, the only one seeing sense.

"We have two hundred tons of acid to pump out. We fall behind, we stay another rotation. Anyone want that?"

Peyton glares furiously at Cleaves, she can't understand why she could possibly be so insistent on this.

"Please," the Doctor grabs her by the bicep and pulls her away. "You're making a massive mistake here. You're right at the crossroads of it. Don't turn the wrong way. If you don't prepare for this storm, you are all in terrible danger. Understand?"

"My factory. My rules," Cleaves stares back defiantly before ripping her arm away from the Doctor.

"I need to check the progress of the storm," the Doctor sighs. "Monitoring station?" He clicks his fingers at Jennifer who squirms. "Monitoring station!"

"Three lefts, a right and a left. Third door on your left," she caves.

"Thank you," he says before rushing out the door. Peyon nods to Amy and Rory and follow him out.

• • •

The four travellers topple into the control room as the floor beneath them shakes again. Surely the storm couldn't be creating earthquakes, could it?

"Not really the right geography for an earthquake," Peyton says as she stumbles behind the Doctor.

"Waves disturbing the Earth's magnetic field," the Doctor explains. "There is going to be the mother and father of all power surges. See this weathervane, the cock-a-doodle-doo? It's a solar router, feeding the whole factory with solar power. When that wave hits, kaboom!" The Doctor rushes back toward the doorway. "I've got to get to that cockerel before all hell breaks loose."

He pauses, giggling to himself with a dreamy look on his face as he turns back to his three companions. "I never thought I'd get to say that again."

"Doctor!" Peyton snaps him out of of it.

"Amy, breathe," he instructs before dashing out of the room.

Peyton and Rory both look at Amy and then share a confused glance.

"Yeah, I mean, thanks. I'll try," Amy calls after him, confused before they all jog after him.

• • •

Ouch.

Peyton's eyes open slowly to see the stone roof above her, the sound of thunder, while still audible, definitely fainter than she remembers.

The back of her head aches from where she must have landed on it before she blacked out.

They had been running after the Doctor but the halls of the factory were unfamiliar to her and the Ponds, causing them to lose him, but find themselves in the room with the Flesh itself.

Rory groans beside Peyton. "For want of a better word, ow."

With a great amount of effort, she sits upright, rubbing the back of her head.

"No sign of the Doctor?" Amy asks, still lying down.

Peyton swivels her head left and right around the stone room devoid of any Time Lords, besides herself of course. "Nope."

"Typical." She sighs. "Rory, help me up."

Peyton almost hears Rory's eye roll before he hauls himself to his feet with a groan. He extends his hand to his wife, who sits up and takes it to pull herself up. She gives him a kiss on the cheek for his effort.

Peyton extends her hand up toward him as well, smiling innocently. He looks her once over as if seriously considering whether or not to help her, the cheek, before pulling her up as well.

"Thanks, love," she winks, giving him a pat on the back instead of a kiss for fear of a red-haired Scot murdering her.

"Come on," says Amy, pulling an emergency light off the wall. "We should find the Doctor."

• • •

Quiet falls on the room as the faint sound of music creeps through the stone walls. They'd found their way to the harness room where they'd first met the workers and found them yet again, just as confused as they were.

The solar tsunami really did a number on the place. By the time the Doctor and Cleaves showed up Peyton had already feared the worst for them. In the silence of the room, the melodic sounds of music makes its way into their ears. 

"That's my record," Wicks says. "Who's playing my record."

"Your Gangers, they've gone walkabout," the Doctor says quietly.

"No, it's impossible," Cleaves shakes her head. "They're not active. Cars don't fly themselves, Cranes don't lift themselves and Gangers don't..."

She trails off as the record changes. Peyton looks to the Doctor, who's face is calm and stoic as if in defiance of the quickening pace of her dual hearts.

• • •

"I think the storm has animated your Gangers," Peyton says, looking up at Wicks as he stares curiously at a tower of cards on the table in the break room.

"Astute," the Doctor pats her shoulder as he walks past.

"They've ransacked everything," Cleaves glares around, looking through a seemingly empty satchel.

"Not ransacked, searched," the Doctor corrects.

"Through our stuff!"

"Their stuff," the Doctor counters.

"Searching for what?" Wicks asks darkly.

"Confirmation. They need to know their memories are real," the Doctor shrugs.

"Oh, so they've got flaming memories now!" Buzzer snorts.

"They feel compelled to connect to their lives-"

"Their stolen lives," Cleaves interrupts the Doctor.

"No. Bequeathed. You gave them this," the Doctor says more firmly. "You poured in your personalities, emotions, traits, memories, secrets, everything. You gave them your lives. Human lives are amazing, are you surprised they walked off with them?"

"I'll say it again, Isle of Sheppey," Buzzer repeats himself. "Ganger got an electric shock, toddled off, killed its operator right there in his harness. I've seen the photos. This bloke's ear was all hanging-"

"Even if this has actually happened," Wicks interrupts, clearly uncomfortable with the explicit details. "They can't remain stable without us plumbed into them. Can they, Boss?"

A long silence followed by, "I guess we'll find out." Which does nothing to alleviate the stress of the situation.

Peyton looks to the Doctor whose eyes were fixed on Cleaves, clearly deep in thought. What he was saying earlier, it didn't sound like his usual out of nowhere guesses. He really sounded like he knew exactly what had happened. Like he knew what happens here.

• • •

"We need to protect ourselves," Wicks says to the rest of the workers as Peyton stands by the Doctor who puts someone's lunch in the microwave. The reason, unknown.

"Are you a violent man, Jimmy?" The Doctor asks, not looking at him.

"No."

"Then why would the other Jimmy be?"

"Don't tell me you can eat at a time like this, Doctor," Cleaves chastises.

"You told me we were out cold for a few minutes, Cleaves," the Doctor says, leaning against the microwave cabinet. "When in fact it was an hour."

An hour out? What could have happened? Peyton scolds herself for never thinking to look at the clock on her phone.

"Sorry. I just assumed-"

"It's not your fault. Like I said, they're disorientated," the Doctor says. "Peyton, Amy, when you got to the alcoves who was in harness?" The microwave chimes.

"Jimmy and Dicken were helping Buzzer out," Amy answers.

"Jennifer?" The Doctor prompts, pulling the meal out of the microwave gingerly, using a tea towel as make-do mitts.

"She was already standing when we got there," Peyton says slowly, eyebrows knitted. Wait. That couldn't mean...

The Doctor passes the plate to Cleaves who looks confused, as does everyone else in the room. Not a word is spoken until the Doctor whispers, just loud enough that Peyton and her can hear. "It's hot."

With a yelp, she drops the plate, ceramic spilling everywhere with a shrill crash.

"Trans-matter's still a little rubbery," the Doctor says, stepping toward her and taking her hand to inspect it. "Nerve endings not quite fused properly."

"What are you talking about," she snarls, ripping her hand away.

"It's okay," he assures her.

It clicks. That's not Cleaves. That's a, thing. That's a Ganger.

"Why didn't I feel that?" She whispers.

"You will. You'll stabilise," he replies calmly.

"No. Stop it. You're playing stupid games," she insists but her tone of voice is evident that she's merely just trying to convince herself. "Stop it!"

She walks away but her yell made sure that everyone's attention is on her.

"You don't have to hide," the Doctor says, walking up to her. Peyton grits her teeth in anticipation. "Please, trust me. I'm the Doctor."

Cleaves turns back around with a hiss. Her face, milky white and featureless. Her glassy eyes are red in their corners and her lips are cracked.

"Where's the real Cleaves, you thing!?" Buzzer shouts. Peyton turns to see him with a screwdriver in hand and Wicks holding him back. "What have you done with her?"

"That's it, good, you remember," the Doctor says quietly. "This is early Flesh. The early stages of the technology. So much to learn."

She flinches as he brings his fingers up to her face,

"Doctor, what's happened to her?" Amy asks.

"She can't stabilise. She's shifting between half-formed and full-formed, for now at least."

"We are living!" Ganger Cleaves declares in a raspy voice. All of a sudden she shrieks and runs toward the door and out of sight.

"Let her go," the Doctor shrugs.

"Doctor, Rory," Amy worries.

"Rory?" The Doctor frowns putting his hands on his hips.

"Rory!" Peyton exclaims, frowning at him and waving her arms to emphasise that he isn't here.

"Oh, Rory. Rory! Always with the Rory!" The Doctor groans. Before grabbing Amy's emergency light off the table. "We have to go save your husband so much we should get a rewards card."

• • •

Peyton jumps down the last few steps into an empty bathroom, a hole clearly punched through one of the stall doors.

"Rory?" Amy calls as she barrels in after her.

"Jennifer's a Ganger too," Peyton gasps, remembering how she wasn't in her harness.

"Of course," the Doctor groans.

"Doctor, you said they wouldn't be violent," Amy says in a concerned tone of voice.

"But I did say they were scared and angry," the Doctor walks over to the basins and leans on the bench to inspect the shattered mirror.

"And early technology, is that what you said," Wicks frowns. "You seem to know something about the Flesh."

"Do you?" Amy frowns.

He doesn't reply, still staring at the cracked glass.

"Doctor?" Peyton utters quietly when the silence goes on for too long. She hates it when he does this. "What do you know?"

He turns, looking at Amy intensely and chewing the inside of his mouth as if forcing himself not to say anything.

"You're no weatherman," Wicks accuses. "Why are you really here?"

"I have to talk to them. I can fix this," he insists before darting back up the stairs.

After so long travelling with the Doctor for so long, Peyton's legs kick into running mode before she even realises it.

"Wait, what's going on? Where's the real Jennifer?" Wicks yells from behind them. As they run after the Doctor.

"Lost, alone, scared," the Doctor hypothesises slowing his pace to a jog as they enter the main corridor again.

An acid pipe running along the wall bursts just in front of the Doctor causing him to jump back to avoid the cloud of gas spilling out, raining acid on the stone floor.

"It is too dangerous out here with acid leaks!" He yells.

"We have to find Rory," Amy insists.

"Yes. I'm going back to the Tardis. Wait for me in the dining hall. I want us to keep together, okay? No more wandering off."

"What about Rory," Peyton frowns.

"Well, it would be safer to look for Rory and Jennifer with the Tardis," he says before turning to leave.

"Here we go," Wicks says, pulling something out of a utility cabinet. "Emergency flares!"

He jumps when he shuts the cabinet door and sees the Doctor's face behind it.

"Exit?" He asks nonchalantly

"Keep going straight can't miss it," he replies with a huff. "But you're never going to get your vehicle in here."

"I'm a great parker," he winks. Peyton rolls her eyes.

He nods to Peyton and Amy before leaving.

"I'm going to follow him," Peyton decides.

"I'm coming too then," Amy nods.

"No, you heard what he said. No wandering off. That should apply to him too," Peyton reasons. "You go back to the dining hall with Wicks and I'll supervise the Doctor."

"Fair point," she rolls her eyes, clearly annoyed that she gets to follow the Doctor and not her.

"I'll text you when we find Rory," she promises before jogging to catch up with the Doctor.

He obviously hears her footsteps because just as she catches up to him he speaks without turning to her. "You're making a habit of this. Will you ever listen to my instructions?"

"Don't count on it."

"Amy's still with Wicks though?"

"Last time I checked," Peyton says grumpily.

"Last time you checked?" He echoes in a high pitched voice, turning back to her for a second.

"She's Amy! I'd like to think she hasn't wandered off but I'd love to see Wicks try to stop her." She laughs.

The Doctor doesn't reply and the two of them walk in silence for a minute, the sound of hissing gas in the distance and the quiet drip of acid onto stone.

"So I have questions," Peyton admits finally.

"That's new," he replies sarcastically but sends a last-minute lopsided grin her way to make sure he wasn't misinterpreted.

"I'm not stupid so don't lie to me. I know that you know more than you're letting on about these Gangers, the Flesh," she says.

His sigh echoes off the damp stone walls. "I've seen it, quite a few years from now. Maybe about a century or two. I know what it develops into. I know what it can do."

"So what can it do?" Peyton prompts him further but he shakes his head.

"Okay, Peyton," he says instead. "From what you've observed here, can you make a guess?" He's made a new habit of doing this, turning an adventure into some sort of deductive lesson for her to figure out. He hasn't done the same with Amy and Rory however, making her feel a little special at first but she can't deny that it is a little annoying in a high-pressure situation. 

"I suppose if you give it an organic model it will replicate it," Peyton shrugs.

"Good," he encourages.

"With external assistance, it can become sentient too," she adds.

"And..."

"It becomes its own life form. It no longer needs a model to exist. It thinks, feels. It's a new race," she realises.

"Top marks."

Silence again. The Doctor turns his head at every door sign as if looking for something besides the exit.

"I saw the way you were looking at her when asked if you knew about the Flesh," Peyton brings up her next query.

"Looking at who?" The Doctor asks coyly.

"Amy." Though she reckons he knows exactly what she's talking about, playing dumb. "That look, Doctor, I would say you were almost scare-"

He cuts her off as he throws a open a heavy metal door.

They're in a Flesh room again. The basin bubbles ever so slightly but besides from that. It is as eerily quiet as the rest of the monastery.

Peyton stands by the door and watches as the Doctor runs up to it and whips out his sonic, scanning it again. She can't see his face and wonders what he is up to.

He gets what he came for soon enough and heads back toward Peyton only smiling in her direction for a second before continuing through the corridor.

From the unsuccessful attempt to interrogate him just moments before, Peyton doesn't even bother asking what he is up to. She justs follows. He shoots a strange look in her direction when he realises this. She replies with an arrogant eyebrow raise and the Time Lord doesn't say anything more. 

Peyton sees the entrance just ahead and the cold night air makes its way toward them.

By the time they reach the stone steps, Peyton can't see the Tardis anymore. She frowns.

She and the Doctor both walk onto the not-so-solid earth, mushy from the storm and from the acidic contents of the monastery spilling out.

"What are you doing down there?" The Doctor gawks. Peyton follows his line of vision and suddenly see the Tardis, or at least a bit of it.

The Time Machine has sunk into the ground, barely leaving the very top exposed. The acid pouring out of this place must be disrupting the soil.

Peyton's feet feel very warm suddenly and she looks down.

"Doctor!" She shrieks. The acid eats at her leather shoes and she reaches down to rip open the laces. The Doctor lets out a yelp of surprise and does the same, grabbing Peyton's arm and pulling her back until they're both standing on the first step of the stone building.

Peyton falls back to sit on her bottom and take the weight off her feet.

"Only light burns," the Doctor diagnoses. "We should be fine in a minute."

"I'm not going back in there with no shoes on!" Peyton complains.

"We'll be careful," the Doctor jumps to his feet with only a slight wince. He offers a hand to her and she takes it begrudgingly. He pats her on the back and she barely cringes as she stands. "Let's go back to the others."

• • •

Barefoot, they walk through the monastery, dodging acid puddles as best they can, leading the Gangers through the stone corridors.

They had run into them as she and the Doctor were making their way back to the dining hall but managed to persuade them not to murder them.

"Now, I know it's hard for you to hold your fully human form," the Doctor says. "That's why you keep shifting between the flesh stages but do try. It'll make the others less scared of you."

"The dining hall is just up on your left," Buzzer says as they approach the doorway covered by the plastic curtain.

From inside Peyton can hear Amy's voice, maybe she didn't run off at all. "Maybe we should just wait-"

"Until the Doctor gets here," the Doctor smiles as he bursts into the room, startling everyone.

"Hello," Peyton adds awkwardly. All eyes are on the Gangers behind her.

"This is..." Wicks mutters staring into the eyes of his doppelgänger.

"You're telling me," Ganger Wicks raises an eyebrow.

"Alright Doctor, you've brought us together, now what?" Ganger Cleaves sighs indignantly.

"Before we do anything, I have one very important question," the Doctor says very seriously. "Has anyone got a pair of shoes we could borrow? Size ten, although I should warn you, I have very wide feet."

"Size seven if you can manage," Peyton adds.

• • •

Peyton's toes are thankful for the warmth of socks and hardy leather shoes. Ganger Cleaves brought back two pairs of shoes and socks from a supply room in the hall.

She sits with Amy as the Doctor explains to workers and Gangers alike the situation and hopefully, a plan.

"The Flesh was never merely moss," the Doctor stresses. "These are not copies. The storm had hardwired them. They are becoming people."

"With souls?" Wicks asks.

"Rubbish," Dicken scoffs before sneezing.

"Bless you," Ganger Dicken responds.

"Well, we were all Jelly once," the Doctor points out. "Little jelly eggs sitting in goop."

"Yeah, thanks, too much information," Amy grouses.

"We are not talking about an accident that needs to be mopped up. We are talking about sacred life. Do you understand?" The Doctor makes himself clear. "Good. Now, the Tardis is trapped in an acid pool. Once I can reach her, I can get you all off this island, humans and Gangers. Aye, how does that sound?"

"Can I make it home for Adam's birthday?" Wicks smiles.

"What about me?" Ganger Wicks says deadpan. "He's my son too."

"You," Wicks glares. "You really think that."

"I feel it."

The tension between human and Ganger reaches a simmer in the room, not long before it hits boiling point. Peyton can only pray that the Doctor can get the situation under control.

"Oh, so you were there when he was born, we're you?" Wicks retaliates.

"Yeah. I drank about eight pints of tea. Then they told me I had a wee boy and I just burst out laughing, no idea why." The look in Ganger Wicks' eyes is heartbreaking and Peyton can tell that the human Wicks can feel it too. "I miss home, as much as you."

"I'm not going to lie to you, it's a right old mess, this," the Doctor steps in. "But as you might say up North, 'oh, well, I'll just go to t'foot of stairs'," he says in a terrible Northern accent. "Ee by by gum. Or not. Good. Right. First step is we get everyone together, then get everyone safe. Then, get everyone out of here."

"We're still missing Jennifer and Cleaves," Peyton reminds him.

"I'll go and look for them," Wicks volunteers.

"I'll give you a hand, if you like? Cover more ground," Ganger Wicks suggests.

"Yeah. Okay. Thanks," Wicks says unsurely.

"This circus has gone on long enough!" Cleaves says with a roar. But not the Ganger standing in front of her.

Peyton spins around to see Cleaves holding some sort of homemade machine, pointing it at the Gangers.

"Oh great," Ganger Cleaves rolls her eyes. "You see, that is so typically me."

"Doctor, tell it to shut up," Cleaves orders.

"Cleaves, no. No, no!" The Doctor pleads.

"Circuit probe," she explains. "Fires about, oh, forty thousand volts. Would kill any one of us. So I guess she'll work on Ganger just the same.

"It's interesting you refer to them and it, but you call a glorified cattle prod a she," the Doctor antagonises.

"When the real people are safely off this island then I'll happily talk philosophy over a pint with you, Doctor," Cleaves glares.

"What are you going to do to them," Peyton takes a step toward her but the Doctor grabs her sleeve.

"Sorry, they're monsters. Mistakes. They have to be destroyed," she says, as if Peyton's the one not getting something.

"Give me the probe, Cleaves," the Doctor orders.

"We always have to take charge, don't we, Miranda," Ganger Cleaves teases. "Even when we don't really know what the hell is going on."

Ganger Buzzer launches himself toward Cleaves and she expertly hits him with a bolt of electricity right in the chest. 

The sound of the body hitting the floor shakes Peyton to her core. 

The Doctor swoops in, crouching down beside him almost instantly. "He's dead."

"We call it decommissioned," Cleaves says smugly.

"You stopped his heart. He had a heart!" The Doctor yells. "Aorta, valves, a real human heart. And you stopped it."

"What happened to Buzzer will happen to all of us if we trust you," Ganger Jennifer walls backwards away from Rory who must have been talking to her, too quiet for Peyton to hear.

"Wait, Wait. Just wait," the Doctor pleads.

Rory turns lightning fast and tackles Cleaves to the ground with a grunt just as she raises the weapon again.

"Wait!" Peyton cries out as all the Gangers sprint to the exit.

Cleaves shoves Rory off her and scrambles to her feet. As Peyton is close by, she helps him up.

"Look at what you've done, Cleaves!" The Doctor says darkly.

"If it's war, then it's war," she insists. "You don't get it, Doctor. How can you? It's us and them now."

She turns to Dicken and Wicks. "Us and them."

"Us and them," Dicken replies. Cleaves looks expectantly to Wicks.

"Us and them," he agrees.

• • •

Peyton stands in what the Doctor has just described as the most fortified and defendable room in the monastery; the Chapel.

Rory's run off, Amy's distressed, Cleaves won't stop bickering with the Doctor at any chance. The Gangers are right outside the door, keeping them trapped.

This was not the sightseeing day she had envisioned.

A noise can be heard in the darkest corner of the room at Cleaves and Wicks push a large metal box up against the door.

"Show yourself!" The Doctor shouts into the darkness. "Show yourself!"

"This is insane," Wicks laughs and he leans against the door. "We're fighting ourselves."

"Yes. It's insane. And it's about to get even more insanerer! Is that a word? Show yourself, right now!" The Doctor yells into the darkness. Peyton and Amy both run up to him to try see what he's seeing.

"Doctor, we are trapped in here and Rory's out there with them," Amy reminds him. "Hello! We can't get to the Tardis and we can't get off this island!"

"Correct in every respect, Pond."

Peyton hears the Doctor's voice but she is staring at his face, not a muscle had moved.

"It's frightening, frankly a total and utter splattering mess on the carpet."

Peyton stares into the darkness. It can't be. How?

"But we are certain, one hundred percent certain, that we can work this out."

Peyton feels every eye in the room fall on her now. That was her voice, but she hadn't uttered a word.

The figures step out of the shadows and she almost mistakes it for a mirror.

Peyton and the Doctor in half formed Ganger form step into the light and smile.

Peyton locks eyes with her Ganger, her everything matching her movements. How she holds herself, how she walks. It's so creepy.

"Trust me," the Ganger Doctor says. "I'm the Doctor."

• • •

The Ganger blinks. Peyton blinks. It tucks a few strands of sandy blonde hair behind her ear, Peyton does the same.

Both she and the second Doctor's skin has transformed into their pale peach hues and now there was nothing that could possible separate Peyton and her duplicate. She knows the Gangers perfectly replicate a living organism, but seeing it done on herself is... extraordinary.

The Ganger Doctor doubles over suddenly and shrieks in pain, causing everyone in the room to jump and Peyton's Ganger to scramble away from his side.

"What's happening?" The Doctor, the real Doctor, asks, a little frightened himself.

"I wonder if we'll get back," the Ganger mumbles, straightening up. "Yes, one day-"

His own scream cuts him off and he throws his head back. "I've reversed the polarity of the neutron flow!"

"The Flesh is struggling to cope with our past regenerations. Hold on!" The Doctor calls to his Ganger.

The Ganger launches toward Peyton with his arm outstretched and says in a voice that is much deeper than his own; "Would you like a Jelly-baby?"

He falls back and Peyton feels her Ganger stand a little closer to her side, the back of their hands brushing accidentally. She too is watching on in horror at what the second Doctor is going through.

"Why? Why?" The Ganger screams.

"Why? What?" The Doctor steps forward trying to understand, holding his .

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," the Ganger says, in another different voice. "No, let it go, we've moved on!" He yells in his normal voice.

"Listen, hold on," the Doctor grabs his doppelgänger's lapels. Amy rushes forward but Wicks and Cleaves hold her back. "Hold on, you can stabilise!"

"I've reversed the jelly-baby of the neutron flow. Would you like a... a... Doctor?" He stutters. "I'm the, I can't..."

"No, listen, hold on," the Doctor says, lowering him to the ground.

"No!" The Ganger screams and throws the Doctor off of him.

Everyone in the room is horrified as the creature lets out a blood-curdling scream, its features turning milky white again.

The screaming stops but no-one utters a word, the only noise being the persistent banging on the other side of the fortified door. Peyton and her Ganger both let out a breath at the same time, causing them to look at each other. The Ganger gives her a knowing smile.

The Ganger Doctor limps in a circle, covering his ears with his hands and panting heavily.

Seeing this as him calming down, the others get back to work with defending the doorway, tasking Amy with holding their light.

The Doctor steps forward with his arms held out, trying to keep his Ganger calm while Peyton keeps glancing sideways at the Flesh version of her.

The banging finally stops and the room is quiet.

"I think I like them best when they were being noisy," Buzzer mutters.

"Doctor, we need you. Get over here!" Amy calls.

"Hello!" The Ganger Doctor says with a lopsided smile.

"Cybermats," the Doctor mumbles.

"Do we have time for this?" The Ganger Doctor asks.

"We make time," the Doctor answers.

Peyton and Amy look between each other, quite confused. She runs back to the door when another thud rings out around the room.

"So how are we feeling?"

Her voice sounds different coming out of a Ganger than it does in her own head. It's unsettling. Like hearing one's voice on a recording. 

"Well, we're the same person right. Same personality. I'm sure I'm feeling about as good as you are," Peyton shrugs, still feeling a little awkward.

"Fair point," her Ganger nods. She leans forward and looks past her two the Doctors. "Well, they're getting along nicely. Never met a better couple."

Peyton glances over to them, chatting away together and giggling intermittently. "Oh, he's finally met his perfect match; himself."

Peyton frowns at herself, acting so weird around her Ganger doesn't make any sense. She's her. Like the Doctor said before, she's not particularly violent or easily frightened so why would she be.

"Doctor, Peyton, come on!" Amy stresses.

Peyton watches the two Doctors walk up to the group. "Hello, sorry," they say in unison.

"But we had to establish a few-"

"Ground rules."

"Formulate a-"

"Protocol,"

"Protocol, very posh."

"A protocol between us. Otherwise-"

"It gets horribly embarrassing."

"And potentially confusing."

"Okay, well I'm glad you've solved the problem of confusing," Amy glares.

"That's sarcasm," the Ganger Doctor points.

"She's very good at sarcasm," the Doctor notes.

"Breathe!" They both instruct, staring at the red haired girl intently.

"What?" Amy stumbles backward.

"We have to get you off this site," the Doctor changes the topic.

"And the Gangers too," the Ganger Doctor adds.

"Sorry, would you like a memo from the last meeting? They're trying to kill us!" Cleaves raises her voice.

"Kinda your fault," Peyton's Ganger mumbles causing Peyton to snicker. Cleaves sends an icy stare their way.

"They're scared," the Doctor says.

"Doctor, we're trapped in here," Amy reminds him.

"Right, see, I don't think so," the Doctor starts pacing. "The Flesh bowl is fed by cabling from above."

"But where are the earthing conduits?" The Ganger Doctor says, pointing to the floor.

"All this piping must go down into a tunnel or a shaft or something, yes? With us?" The Doctor quickens his pace, scouting the room.

He pulls back a board leaning against the wall. "Yowzah!" He exclaims. "An escape route."

Amy looks to Peyton, mouthing the word 'yowzah' with a confused look on her face. Well, first she looks to her Ganger, but after flicking her eyes down to her shoes, her gaze falls upon the original.

Different shoes set them apart. The copy was made before she and the Doctor had lost their shoes in the acid outside. Something in the back of Peyton's mind tells her that this will be a problem.

"You know, I'm starting to get a sense of just how impressive it is to hang out with me," the Doctor smiles.

Peyton and her Ganger let out a simultaneous sigh.

"Do we tend to say 'yowzah'?" the Ganger Doctor asks.

"That's enough, let it go, okay?" The Doctor whispers. "Right, everyone who fancies escaping right now, in the shaft."

He rips the board away and uses his sonic to undo the bolts in the metal grate.

One by one, everyone piles in. Peyton follows her Ganger just as every human has already entered, except for Cleaves who was still holding the door.

"Come on," Peyton hurries her.

"Go with Peyton," the Doctor says to his Ganger. "I'll get Cleaves in."

The other Doctor nods and crouches down to follow her.

• • •

They all tumble into the Evac tower, still coughing up from the nasty chemical gas reaction in the corridors.

Amy stumbles into Peyton's arms and presses a hand to her lower abdomen as if in pain.

"You okay, Aimes?" She asks, trying to get her to straighten up.

"Yeah, I think I coughed so hard I pulled a muscle," she pants. "It's easing off now, thank you."

The Doctors and Cleaves run to the control panel while Peyton stands back with her Ganger, wishing she could be more useful.

"It's midnight," Wicks says as a bell chimes from outside the stone walls of the tower. "It's Adam's birthday. My son's five. Happy Birthday, Bud."

Peyton gives Wicks an encouraging smile. If all goes well, he'll get to see his son soon. The Doctor will save everyone. He always does.

"Can you really get the power back?" Cleaves sighs exasperatedly.

"There's always some power floating around," the Doctor says, or is it his ganger. Peyton can't tell from here, the computers are in the way.

"Sticking to the wires, like bits of lint," the other Doctor says.

"Can you stop finishing each other's-"

"Sentences?" The Doctor interrupts.

"No probs," the other says.

"Yes," Amy mutters.

"Hang on? The Tardis is stuck in acid," Peyton says. "So won't she be damaged?"

"Nah she's a tough old thing," the Doctor reassures her. "Tough, old, sexy."

"No, she's tough, dependable, sexy."

Peyton cringes and looks to Amy who is also pulling a face.

"Come on, how can you both be real," Amy changes the subject. "You as well, Peyton."

"Well, because we are," one of the Doctors smiles. "I'm the Doctor."

"Yeah, so am I. We both contain the knowledge of over nine hundred years of memory and experience. We both wear the same bow-tie, which is cool. Because bow-ties are-"

"And always will be."

"And same with us," Peyton's ganger says. "Only twenty odd years of life for us, but hey."

"How did the Flesh read you, because neither of you were linked up to it?" Amy presses.

"Well, it must have been after I examined it," a Doctor says. "Peyton and I both used our sonics to psychically connect with it and we both physically touched it. Thus, a new, genuine Doctor and Peyton were created. Ta-da!"

"No getting away from it. But one of you was here first. One Doctor, I met sixteen years ago, and one Peyton who I grew up with."

"Okay, well. After the Flesh scanned us, we had an accident with a puddle of acid. Now new shoes, a situation which does not confront me learned itself here." The Doctor dips back down behind the machinery.

Amy briefly looks toward Peyton, or rather her feet. Eyes then look up to her face with a small smile.

Amy looks to the other Doctor who had a vacant and sad sort of smile. "That satisfy you, Pond?"

"Don't call me Pond, please."

The other Doctor rises slowly with an inquisitive look on his face. "Interesting."

"What?" She frowns

"You definitely feel more affection for him than me," the Doctor says.

"No, I. Look, you're fine and everything, but he is the Doctor. No offence. Being almost the Doctor is pretty damn impressive."

"Well, being almost the Doctor is like being no Doctor at all," the other Doctor scoffs, his face heartbroken.

"Don't overreact," Amy hisses, looking around.

"You may as well call me, Smith," he laments.

"Smith?"

"John Smith!"

"Amy," Peyton's ganger reaches out to her but only receives an apprehensive look.

"Yes! Communication's a go-go!" The Doctor shouts, cutting through the growing tension in the room.

"Find Rory," Amy says as Cleaves makes her way over. "Show me the scanny-tracky screen."

Peyton jogs over next to her, trying to get a glimpse at the screen. A map lights up under Cleaves' instruction.

"Come on Rory, where are you?" Peyton murmurs.

"There's no sign of him anywhere," Cleaves explains.

"Come on, come on, baby, show yourself," Amy stresses.

"I've got to call the mainland," Cleaves says before opening a new window. "St Johns calling, emergency Alpha. St Johns calling the mainland. Are you receiving me, Captain? Come in!"

Peyton gets a tap on her shoulder and she spins around. It's the Doctor. He silently nods to the side of the room and she and her ganger obey.

The Doctor grabs his ganger by the back of his collar on the way, glancing over his shoulder at the group for something.

"Okay, I've got a plan," he says in a hushed tone.

"To get out of here?" Peyton's Ganger asks.

"Yes, well, that's the big plan. The Master plan. But for now, we have a smaller problem."

"Amy," Ganger Doctor says. "She doesn't trust us."

"So, the only thing that tells us apart is?" The Doctor asks.

"Our shoes," Peyton answers. He smiles.

"So switch shoes," the Doctor says, quite proud of himself.

"But then she won't trust us," Peyton says to the Doctor wearing the new shoes.

"Yes, only temporarily. But Amy will trust the Flesh."

"So we're just going to teach her a lesson? She's not a child," Peyton's Ganger frowns.

Both Doctor's bite their lip and share a very quick glance.

"Okay, we'll do it," Peyton says, looking over to Amy who is still engrossed in the computer.

She nods to her Ganger before reaching for her laces. She kicks off the boots and hands them to her ganger who was offering her own shoes back to her. They cast a quick glance toward Amy, checking that the coast was still clear before shoving their feet back into the shoes.

"Doctor!" Cleaves calls before either of the Doctors could swap their shoes. They both dash over and Peyton watches as Cleaves makes a pointed look at the Ganger wearing the Doctor's shoes. He slows and stands awkwardly in the middle of the room.

The Doctor sits in the seat at the console as Cleaves gets him up to pace and he begins to attack the keyboard with his long fingers. Peyton and her Ganger both walk up to them but Peyton stays behind by the Doctor's Ganger, knowing that for the Doctor's plan to work, Amy had to think she is the Flesh.

"What are you doing?" Peyton hears Amy ask the Doctor.

"Making a phone call."

"Who to?" Her Ganger asks, pulling an office chair over and sitting down into it.

"No one yet, it's on delay."

"Right not getting it. Why exactly are you making a phone call?"

"Because, Amy, I am and always be the optimist, the hoper of far-flung hopes and the dreamer of improbable dreams," he says, spinning on his chair, before grabbing Amy's and spinning hers. "The wheels are in motion, done."

Amy leans against the console in her chair, looking at Peyton and the Ganger Doctor. Peyton looks up to see him locking her gaze sadly. She wraps her arm around his and leans her head on his shoulder, offering any comfort. He doesn't react though.

Amy whispers something Peyton can't quite hear to the Doctor, the look on her Ganger's face is the only clue as to what it could be. Her facade falling for a minute to reveal sad grey eyes.

The Ganger Doctor pulls away from Peyton to look away from Amy and she lets him go. Staring at the floor awkwardly that is until she notices the Ganger Doctor's rattling breath.

"Are you okay," Peyton whispers to him, walking around him so she is facing him, looking up into his face. It's a young face, if he were human he could be no more than ten years older than her. But there are times when something snaps in his eyes and anyone could believe that he had lived those nine hundred-odd years.

"There's so much," he says in a choked whisper.

"Doctor," she whispers back. "What's wrong?"

He locks eyes with her, so much sadness and desperation. "You look so much like him, you know, have I told you that? Has he told you that? It's been so long since I've seen him."

"Yes, of course," Peyton says, looking around. Still, no one was paying them much attention other than a suspicious glance every so often, least of all Amy. The Doctor never brings up her father unless confronted with her questions. "What's wrong?"

"It's all too much. There's so much..." he trails off. "It's in my head," he says a little louder, causing the Doctor and Amy to look up at the two of them.

He squeezes his eyes tight, shaking his head before walking toward the door, pushing it open.

"Hey, hold on!" Wicks shouts.

"Doctor!" Peyton pleads.

"Leave it to me," Amy pushes her self toward the door before Cleaves could storm after him. Peyton goes to follow but Amy gives her a look.

Amy has never looked at her like that. The disdain in her eyes halts Peyton to the spot. Like a punch to the stomach, Peyton struggles to catch her breath. Amy has never looked at her like that, like she is nothing to her, like dirt. 

Peyton looks over to the Doctor and her Ganger, who understand exactly what her mind is thinking from her expression.

The Doctor motions for her to come over so she does.

"Will she be alright with him?" Peyton asks.

"The real question is; will he be alright with her?" Her Ganger raises an eyebrow.

The Doctor chuckles. "What was he saying, Peyton, before he left.

"He was kinda just babbling," she reports. "Talking about it all being too much, that there was something in his head." Peyton neglects to mention how her father arrived into the conversation. Mentions of him usually make the Doctor's mood worsen. 

The Doctor says nothing for a moment. "Why?" He whispers.

• • •

"Doctor, it might be best if you stayed over there for now, hmm?" Cleaves sneers at the Ganger Doctor

"Hold on a minute, hold your horses, I thought I'd explained this. I'm him, he's me," the Doctor frowns

"Doctor, we have no issue with you," Cleaves sighs. "But when it comes to your Ganger..."

The hurt in the second Doctor's eyes tugs on Peyton's heartstrings as Cleaves talks down to him like this. A glance in her own Ganger's direction and she can see behind her act of nonchalantness comforting her best friend, that she is also afraid and heartbroken.

"Don't be absurd," the Doctor counters.

"Buzzer?" Cleaves nods.

"Sure, Boss," he walks over and grabs two metal barrels from the side of the room. "Take a seat."

Straightening his bow tie, the other Doctor makes his way over, head held high and sat down.

"You as well, Miss," Buzzer sneers in Peyton's direction.

She snaps up, remembering that she is playing her counterpart. Attempting to emulate the same dignity the Ganger Doctor had, she walks toward him and sits beside him.

"Nice barrel, very comfy," the Doctor pats the side of it. "Is this really what you want?"

The Doctor said that last part looking Amy directly in the eye. Peyton follows his gaze and watches her Ganger hovering next to her uncertainly.

Amy folds her arms, unable to muster a reply.

• • •

"That's Rory and Jennifer!" Amy exclaims, looking at the monitor. From her banishment, Peyton can't see anything, huffing in defeat.

The Ganger Doctor slips his hand under Peyton's, holding it gently.

"They're heading first the thermostatic room," Cleaves gasps.

"Let's go get them," Amy turns to the Doctor.

The Doctor throws his sonic up in the air and catching it before tossing it to the Doctor sitting next to Peyton who catches it with his free hand and pockets it.

"Hang on!" Amy protests.

"You can't let them go," Cleaves glares. "Are you crazy?"

"Am I crazy, Doctor?" The Doctor laughs.

"Well, you did once plumb your brain into the core of an entire planet just to halt its orbit and win a bet," the Ganger smiles.

"They can't go rescue them. I'm going, Peyton?" Amy says, turning to the blonde Ganger.

She looks over to Peyton and the Doctor's Ganger. "What's the difference. She's me. He's him."

"You know what," the Doctor stands up slowly, standing very close to Amy. "I want them to go. And I'm rather adamant."

The Ganger Doctor stands up, Peyton's hand falling out of his so she does the same, trying to deliver the same glare of judgement toward Amy.

"Well then, they'll need company, right, boss?" Buzzer says. "It's fine. I'll handle it."

"Thank you, Buzzer," the Ganger Doctor clicks his fingers. "It'll be all right. We'll find him."

"What harm could I possibly bring to my two best friends," Peyton adds, feeling a little proud of herself as her words make Amy a tad uncomfortable.

The Ganger Doctor turns and heads to the door and Peyton follows quickly, mindful of Buzzer right on their heels.

"So what is this device then?" He asks. "That you're finding their friend with?"

The Doctor pulls out his sonic and flips it in the air before catching it and setting it to scan.

"We're finding our friend with that?" Peyton says. She reaches into her pocket for her sonic pen but concludes that one sonic would be more than enough anyway, so she lets it stay there.

"Right," Buzzer grumbles.

The three walk in silence for some time. Peyton listens to the drum of their feet against the concrete floor and the low hum of the factory's systems. Soon, she can even feel a slight breeze on her face as the Doctor directs them down staircase after staircase to the ground floor of the old monastery.

She notices the Doctor's pace begin to pick up and she matches it.

"Doctor, is it him?" Peyton asks, excitedly.

The cool air hits her face as they emerge into a courtyard. The sky above, dark and cloudy, the few stars that penetrate through them are only dim.

"I'm getting something," he mumbles.

"Is it human?" Buzzer asks.

"Yeah, it's human. But it's fading, it's fading!"

"Fading is very bad," Peyton adds, stress quickly rising. The Doctor slows to a halt and points his sonic to the side.

"Bad," he breathes.

Peyton rushes toward the body on the ground. Jennifer. She crouches down and takes her arm, her skin so cold.

"Signal's gone, she's dead," the Doctor says as Peyton checks for a pulse in her wrist. She lowers the girl's hand softly, letting it rest next to her.

Peyton exhales shakily. She doesn't think she'll ever get used to the amount of death that she sees with Doctor. It is almost enough to turn her away from this life, almost.

"She was hanging onto the edge of life and she just, just slipped away," the Doctor pants, placing a hand on Peyton's back as she pushes herself out of the dirt. "Jennifer, I'm so sorry."

"She's been out here for hours," Peyton hypothesises, "Freezing."

"But if the real Jen's been lying out here..." Buzzer mutters.

"Rory's in trouble," the Doctor gasps.

"We have to go!" Peyton shouts, desperately.

She turns to run but the last thing she sees is Buzzer's arm raised, torch in hand with a regretful look in his eyes. He swings.

• • •

Peyton opens her eyes to see a pair of hazel ones looking down at her, a hand on her neck at her pulse point.

"Twice in one day," Peyton groans, the Doctor shows a small smile and leans back and pushes himself to his feet. 

"We have company."

She looks past him to see three figures in Hazmat suits. The Gangers. She catches herself before acting too frightened. She's supposed to be a Ganger too.

The Doctor stretches his hand out to her and she takes it, flexing her bicep to pull herself up with his help.

"Got anything for a sore head," the Doctor asks once she's on steady feet, rubbing the back of his skull.

"This is how they'll always treat us," Ganger Cleaves sighs. "Do you see now? After all, you're both one of us, Doctor and Peyton."

"Call me Smith. John Smith," he says grumpily. Peyton looks up at him with a frown.

• • •

"You created another Ganger, just to trick me!"

Peyton's reunion with Rory wasn't as heartfelt as she would have liked. He scampered away from her in fact, clearly fuming at something that had happened. That something, when the Doctor has pressed the Gangers, was that the factory was going to explode and Amy and the others were locked up.

So now Peyton sits on the table in the break room, cross-legged and next to the Doctor as Rory screams at the Gangers.

"You tricked me. When I found you, you were both Flesh and you tricked me into trusting you! Jen's dead, isn't she!"

"She's gone, Rory," the Ganger Doctor shouts. "Gone."

"Shuttle, we're dripping down on our approach," a voice over the PA announces. "Stand by for evac."

"The humans will be melted, as they deserve," Ganger Jen says. "And then the factory will be destroyed. Once we get to the mainland? The real battle begins. The humans won't stand a chance. You're one of us, Doctor, Peyton. Join the revolution."

"I've got to go and get them out," Rory says, fed up, and begins to storm toward the door.

The Doctor launches himself from the table and shoved Rory backwards and stands with Jennifer.

Rory looks at him, horrified. He then turns to Peyton, his eyes pleading with her. Her stomach drops as she realises what she must do. Peyton turns her eyes steely and slowly slides from the tabletop, not breaking eye contact with him. She takes a step to stand next to the Doctor still staring him down. She clenches her jaw in an effort to keep a straight face as tears of despair and hopelessness well up in her best friend's eyes.

He is definitely thinking about Amy, the Doctor, and what he thinks is the real her, down in the depths of the factory somewhere about to die a painful death. He thinks he'll be alone in this foreign world, far from home and all that he has.

This makes Peyton realise that soon that may be true. She'd have to reveal herself to both him and the Flesh first. But then there will only be the two of them. She couldn't fly the Tardis, at least not well enough to get them home, they'd be trapped. Alone.

Peyton breaks eye contact, she has to, she can't bear the sight of him right now, not without breaking face. She has to do this. For the Doctor, for Amy, and for Rory. For every Ganger as well.

"Doctor, Peyton, we can't just let them die," he chokes.

The Doctor looks at his watch. "Ring- ring."

"Doctor!" Rory tells, charging forward but the Doctor shoves him back again.

"Ring-ring!"

Something seismic shakes the room, sending everyone stumbling. Peyton grabs the side of the table to keep herself from falling.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Rory try to make a break for it.

"Stay!" The Doctor shouts.

"Okay," Rory says, taking a large gulp and lifting up his hands in surrender.

A phone begins to ring. Peyton looks to the Ganger Doctor immediately. She just thought he was being weird and cryptic. "That'll be the phone, Jimmy, get the phone. No, I'll get the phone. Everyone stay put."

The Doctor runs past Rory to the other side of the room and she makes the mistake of catching his eye. Peyton looks away immediately and out of the corner of her eye, she sees his posture change. He saw. She hopes she hasn't just given it all away.

The Doctor uses his sonic to silence the ringing and it is replaced by an announcement.

"Thank you for booking your holo-call with Morpeth Jet, bringing the world together."

• • •

"You've tricked him into an act of weakness, Doctor," the Ganger Jennifer snarls as Wicks runs out of the room.

"No, I've helped him into an act of humanity," he says calmly. "Anyone else like the sound of that? Act of humanity."

"Dicken, drain the acid well in crypt one," Ganger Cleaves orders nonchalantly,

"Don't you dare," Ganger Jennifer calls after him.

"I've had it with this!" Ganger Cleaves snaps, walking towards Jennifer. "What's the point in this ridiculous war? Look at you, Jen. You were a sweet kid. Look at you now. The stuff of nightmares. I don't want my world populated by monsters."

"You can't stop the factory from melting down, boss," Ganger Jennifer says matter-of-factly. "I'll take revenge on humanity without you."

"It doesn't have to be about revenge," the Doctor interjects, leaning into the table separating him from the rest of the group. It can be so much better than that."

Ganger Cleaves rushes away regardless, leaving the Doctor to sigh and a shake his head.

"They'll get to them in time, right?" Peyton asks the Doctor.

"Wicks and Dicken on the case," the Doctor claps.

"So we're cool?" Rory speaks up for the first time in a while.

"Obviously," she laughs, leaning back on the table.

"Roranicus Pondicus, we'll always be cool," the Doctor smiles.

• • •

Peyton runs up behind Rory toward Amy as they wrap their arms around each other tightly. She stops herself when she sees her own Ganger emerge from behind Amy, Rory then turns to hug her.

Peyton shuffles away slowly, trying not to be noticed. She spies the two Doctors slipping into the shadows and she stays far enough away to not draw attention to them but close enough to keep an eye on them.

She watches as the Ganger Jimmy talks with his son, Peyton wonders where the human Jimmy went. She comes to the only logical conclusion. She sighs.

A Doctor trots up to her. She glances down at his shoes. Ganger.

"So have you come up with a plan about what you're going to do when all this is over?" Peyton asks, still watching what is happening in front of them. "Two Doctors might be a bit of a stretch."

"We'll get there when we get there," the Doctor nods. "Our Flesh counterparts will be taken care of well enough."

Peyton looks at him, confused.

"Finally managed to switch shoes," he smiles. "I get to watch someone else save the day today, ooh I'm sure it will be impressive."

Peyton punches him lightly in the arm and he chuckles at her.

"We need to move," the Ganger Doctor announces as Wicks finishes his call.

They run as a group through the halls of the factory, the Ganger Doctor at the lead with Peyton and the Doctor at the back

Alarms start blaring as time runs out, heightening the anxiety in her chest, fueling the adrenaline that is pumping through her veins, her two hearts beating a steady rhythm.

The group comes to a halt and Peyton stands on her toes to see over the head over everyone. Some sort of beast, pale flesh and dark hair on its head is up ahead. Jennifer's Ganger, except she's corrupted now, a disgusting morphed creature.

Peyton manages to run up near the front near her own Ganger and nod to her, Peyton can tell she's so frightened. 

"We have to stop her, this door doesn't lock!" Ganger Dicken curses as he slams the metal door behind them. Everyone slows to a halt to look.

"No, but the far one does," the human Dicken runs out from the group and toward the monster. He struggles with the door before finally closing it, but with him on the other side.

"No!" His Ganger shouts. Ganger Cleaves, and the Doctor all run to help Ganger Dicken hold the door.

They hear a rumbling from above and look behind them into the room to see the Doctor looking up at the roof. "Here she comes," Peyton hears him say. With a crash the Tardis slams through the roof, the light pouring from its windows, lighting up the room.

"She does love to make an entrance," the Ganger Doctor cheers.

"Everyone, on the Tardis," Peyton yells.

"Now's our chance!" Amy says to the Ganger Doctor beside her and Peyton's Ganger next to him holding the door, Ganger Cleaves to her right.

"I have to stay here and hold the door, give you guys a chance to dematerialise."

"Oh don't be crazy! What will happen to you?"

"Well, this place is just about to explode, but we can stop her," Peyton's Ganger forces a smile.

"All of you can survive this. There has to be a way!" Amy yells.

"Or perhaps you think we should stay instead," the Doctor says, returning from the Tardis and now standing next to Peyton.

"No, of course not," Amy says. "But look, this man, I've flown with him, you know?" She turns to Peyton. "And I grew up with her. You are amazing and I misjudged you, I'm sorry, but you're not them. I'm sorry."

"Amy, we swapped shoes," Peyton tells her. She looks at her and the Doctor, then to the set of Gangers guarding the door.

"I'm the Doctor, this is Peyton," says the Doctor.

"And we're the Flesh," the Ganger Doctor looks at her sadly.

"You can't be, she turns her body to face them. "You're the real ones."

"No we're not, and I haven't been all along," Peyton's Ganger grunts as she's thrown away from the door but slams her back into it again.

"What?" Amy gasps.

"I'm the original Doctor, Amy," the Doctor beside Peyton says. "We had to know if we were truly the same. It was important, vital, we learn about the Flesh. And we could only do that through your eyes. We started with the Peytons and then us."

Amy turns slowly to the gangers and throws herself into their arms. They hug her tightly and Peyton smiles sadly.

"Amy, Peyton, come on!" Rory shouts.

Amy sprints past her and toward her husband. With one last mournful look at her Ganger, Peyton rushes after her

• • •

"Doctor!" Rory calls as Peyton shuts the Tardis door behind her after dropping everyone off, Amy doubling over in pain. "What is happening to her?"

"Contractions."

"Contractions?" Peyton gasps, the Doctor stands up by the console, not facing the three companions in the entryway.

"She's going into labour."

"Did he say?"

"No, of course he didn't," Rory holds her close, comforting her. Peyton storms up to the Doctor.

"What is going on? What happened to Amy?" She demands of him.

"Rory, I don't like this," Amy stammers before doubling over in pain.

"What, the birds and the bees? She's having a baby," he still won't face her, she stands on the steps, gaping up at him. "I needed to see the Flesh in its early days. That's why I scanned it, that's why we were there in the first place. I was going to drop you all off for fish and chips first, but things happened and there was stuff and shenanigans. Beautiful word, shenanigans."

"It hurts," Amy groans.

"But are you okay?" Rory places a hand on her stomach, trying to feel for somethings.

"Breathe," he says, finally turning around. "I needed enough information to block the signal to the Flesh."

"What signal?" Peyton pleads.

"The signal to her."

"Doctor?" She looks up at him with her round brown eyes, unable to understand what was happening.

"Stand away from her, Rory," the Doctor says softly.

"Why? No! And why?" He frowns, holding her tighter.

"Given what we've learned I'll be as humane as I can, but I need to do this and you need to stand away!"

"No," Amy whimpers as Rory does what he is told. Peyton can't stand to watch her suffer like this, with a glaring look at the Doctor she walks toward her but a clamp-like grip around Peyton's wrist holds her in place.

Tears well up in Amy's eyes but she is rooted to the spot. "Doctor, I am frightened. I'm properly scared."

"Don't be, hold on." The grip on Peyton's arm loosens as the Doctor walks toward her. "We're coming for you, I swear it. Whatever happened, however hard, however far, we will find you." He places a hand on her cheek.

"I'm right here," Amy clasps his hand in hers.

"No, you're not. You haven't been here for a long, long time." He pulls away from her and points his sonic in her direction.

Rory sobs.

With a whir of the screwdriver, Amy dissolved into white Flesh, spilling out onto the Tardis floor.

Peyton takes a deep and rattling breath.


	21. In The Tardis #4

The Doctor had told Peyton and Rory to get some rest.

They both protested avidly at first but with a silencing look from the Time Lord, they both headed down the long corridor toward the bedrooms. Their doors were thankfully close today, Peyton pushes her door open and watches over her shoulder as Rory hovers in the doorway of his and Amy's room before slipping in and closing the door gently.

Peyton decides it's in her best interest not to bother him. She's sure he's going through just as much as her, if not more. Amy Pond, why is it always her?

Peyton showers quickly and by the time she slips into her bedclothes and her body hits the mattress, the exhaustion of the last day hits her all at once. They'd arrived at the monastery early afternoon after a lazy morning which was a blessing but it was mid-morning by the time they had piled back into the Tardis after a visit to Morpeth Jetson headquarters.

That is by no means an excruciatingly long period of time for Peyton, half Time Lord and all, but with all the running, the worry, and the threats on her life, it adds up to quite a lot of exhaustion. Her final coherent thoughts before she is pulled into subconsciousness are about what the Doctor could be doing right now. Is he too falling into sleep, or is he tinkering and plotting somewhere? She never reaches a conclusion.

• • •

Peyton awakens suddenly, ejected from her slumber by a rush of adrenaline. She hadn't had a nightmare in a long time.

The more she tries to recall it, the less she can see. Amy's unmistakable red hair is the only thing she can grasp. She sighs and rubs her eyes, turning on her side and closing her eyes again.

Just as she feels sleep about to wash over her, she hears a knock at the door. It's faint and easy to miss but her eyes snap open.

"Come in," she calls, her voice croaky with sleep.

The door to her bedroom opens slowly, the dim light from the hallway allowing her to see that it's Rory, dressed in a baggy v-neck and flannel trousers.

Peyton pushes herself up and swings her legs off the side of her bed and gestures for him to come to sit with her.

He does silently, only exhaling loudly as he sits next to his friend.

"Got any sleep?" Peyton asks.

"No. You."

"A little."

"Did I wake you?" He sounds concerned.

"No, I was up."

He doesn't answer. Peyton realises that he probably just needed to be around someone, not be alone in that bedroom he is supposed to be sharing.

"We'll get her back," Peyton says.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. The Doctor will save her," Rory murmurs.

"No, Doctor or not, you and I will always save her," Peyton says confidently, looking him in the eye. In the dark of her bedroom, she can only just make out his facial features. "The last centurion and the half Time Lord, what could stop us?"

Peyton almost sees the corner of his mouth lift. But he says nothing for a couple of minutes. "I'm a dad," he says, as if just realising.

"Congratulations," Peyton says.

Another bout of silence, this time Peyton breaks it. "I'm sorry, to say this but if we are going to be in any shape to save your wife you need to get some sleep."

"You're right," he sighs, making a lethargic effort to get up.

"If you don't want to be alone, you can stay here. We can have a sleepover, like back in the day."

"We haven't had a sleepover since primary school," he chuckles lowly, "The four of us all crammed into someone's double bed."

"We were so little." Peyton smiles to herself.

"Alright," he concedes. "Scoot over."

Peyton shuffles over and kicks back the duvet before siding underneath, lying on her back. Rory does the same.

"Get some sleep, Rory, just a little. For Amy," Peyton suggests.

"For Amy," he mumbles, before curling up on his side with his back toward her.

Peyton lets the darkness overcome her once more.

• • •

Restless sleep is better than no sleep. When Peyton awakens again she can tell that Rory is still asleep.

She carefully slides out of the bed, trying her best not to disturb him. He needs the rest.

She pads silently out of the room and in the direction of the console room, stretching at she does so, her limbs not used to not being allowed to splay out in all directions as she sleeps.

Upon entering the console room, she halts and a blush rushes to her cheeks as she not only sees the Doctor by the console but a few strange figures around.

"Doctor," she calls, feeling quite exposed in her sleep shirt and shorts.

He looks up from the console and his eyes widen, realising the situation she's in. He shrugs off his jacket and makes his way up the stairs to her.

She takes it and nods, slipping her arms into its sleeves, she cuffs them a little so her hands don't get lost in the fabric. The length of the jacket comes just below her shorts, allowing her a bit more privacy in front of the unexpected guests.

"So what's all this?" She queries.

"I've been asking around, I have a few people who owe me a favour," he says, trotting back down the stairs, Peyton follows. "Tracking down whoever thinks they can take something precious from me."

The righteous anger in which he utters that last statement chills her. It almost makes her pity whoever they're going to find when they reunite with Amy.

"You've met Henry and Toby," the Doctor nods when they're both at the bottom of the stairs.

Peyton can't help but crack a smile as she sees Captain Avery and his young son who she met a few months ago aboard a pirate ship in the seventeenth century.

"Good morning, miss," Toby smiles up at her, a lot more healthy and happy than when she last saw him.

"How have you been, ma'am," Henry extends a hand for her in what Peyton assumes is a handshake, but when their hands meet, the Pirate captain raises her hand to his lips.

"I've been alright," Peyton answers politely with a charmed smile.

"Oh, and this is Madame Vastra and Jenny," the Doctor grabs Peyton's attention. "You'll love them."

She's pulled in another direction by the wrist to see two ladies dressed in very Victorian attire, one surprisingly not human, rather Silurian.

"These guys are a certain Conan-Doyle's real-life inspiration," the Doctor boasts.

"Was Victorian England not ready for two woman detectives?" Peyton jokes, not even touching the non-human from the dawn of time.

"Married, woman detectives," the Silurian adds.

That, she was not expecting, but she smiles.

"Now, Peyton," the Doctor says. "Get changed, get Rory up too. I don't think anyone has ever saved the day in pyjamas."

"Dress code?" Peyton asks.

His eyes turn dark, looking around at the small crowd in the console room before turning back to Peyton. "Battle."


	22. The Day they Found Melody Pond

'Battle' turned out to be a very vague description of what to wear.

Peyton settles on a pair of black army pants (pockets, so many pockets), her trusty Doc Martins, and a slim fitting grey shirt, made out of a tough and almost metal-like fabric. She looks at the tag and sees that the shirt is made out of minuscule chain mail, not at all abrasive to the skin. She throws on an undershirt just in case but she's confident that nothing says 'battle' more like a shirt that will actually protect her.

After meeting with the Doctor, Peyton got Rory up who immediately wanted to talk to the Doctor so the small breakfast room was empty.

Most meals, they ate at fun restaurants with the Doctor, he seemed to have an unlimited amount of money. One time they had dinner at an antigravity restaurant where the chairs were attached to the table and she was strapped to her chair. They didn't serve any soups or saucy food, for obvious reasons.

The atmosphere of the Tardis knowing Amy was in danger was spine chilling. She is angry, worried, upset, and horrified all at once, resulting in kind of a still numbness within her.

• • •

"I know he said 'battle', but really?" Peyton raises an eyebrow as Rory strolls through the Tardis doors after intimidating an entire Cyber-legion wearing his full Roman centurion outfit, she hadn't seen that in a long time.

The spectacle was truly something to behold, but the tiny bit of fear that sprung into the back of Peyton's mind when she saw the look in the Doctor's eye as he pressed that button, sending balls of flame shooting out into the darkness from those ships.

"It was his idea," he shrugs flatly.

"Rory, just in time, you and Peyton can go and grab Dr Song for me," the Doctor says from the other side of the console.

"Why can't you?" She frowns.

"Because, Peyton, I've had a very busy day and I look like a mess," the Doctor glares at her as if this were obvious before looking into the monitor on the console, fixing his hair and Peyton understands.

"Oh, we have to impress River, don't we," she teases.

"Shut up, or I'll stick you with the Sontaran."

Peyton looks over to Commander Strax, who she just met a few minutes ago but looks very offended.

He pulls the Tardis to a halt. "Stormcage," he announces. "You two, out."

Peyton looks to Rory who walks past her and to the door determinedly. Many of the characters nearby glance at him worriedly.

She steps outside the Tardis and into the dimly lit Stormcage hallway, closing the door behind her.

"This is River Song, back in her cell." She hears her immediately. Peyton sees her just ahead of Rory, dresses up nicely in Victorian attire, dancing to herself and smiling widely.

She's never seen her so carefree.

"Oh, are you boys dressing up as Romans now? I thought nobody read my memos," she says cheerfully.

"Dr Song," Rory says, stepping toward her. "It's Rory, and Peyton."

River doesn't say anything, freezing in place.

"Sorry, have we met yet?" Peyton asks, concerned, catching up to Rory's side. "Time streams, I'm not quite sure where we are."

"Yes. Yes, we've met," she says quietly. She walks closer to the two of them. "Hello, Rory, Peyton."

"What's wrong?" Rory says, sensing her very different disposition to her usual self.

"It's my birthday," she gasps, changing the subject. "The Doctor took me ice skating on the river Thames in 1814, the last of the great frost fairs. He got Stevie Wonder to sing for me under London Bridge."

"Stevie Wonder sand in 1814?" Rory frowns, as does Peyton.

"Yes, he did. But you must never tell him that," she giggles.

"We've come from the Doctor too," Peyton says.

"Yes, but at a different point in time."

"Unless there's two of them," Rory suggests.

"Now, that's a whole different birthday."

Peyton scrunches her face in discomfort, River sees this and laughs quietly before walking toward her cell, pulling her recognisable diary out of her bag.

"He needs you," she calls out to her.

"Demons run," she mutters.

"How, did you know?" Rory stammers.

"I'm from his future. I always know," she says, turning back to them. "Why on earth are you wearing that?" She says that last bit more to Rory.

"The Doctor's idea," he looks down at his outfit as if he had forgotten he was wearing it.

"Of course," she smirks. "His rules of engagement; float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

"Look ridiculous," Rory groans.

"Have you considered heels?" Peyton laughs.

River sends her a warm and proud smile, she can't tell what she's thinking.

"They've taken Amy," Rory says as River moves to enter her cell. "And our baby. The Doctor's getting some people together. We're going after her but he needs you, too."

"I can't," she chokes. She turns to Peyton and Rory, her eyes welling up with tears. "Not yet, anyway."

"I'm sorry," Peyton balls her fists angrily. How can she abandon him at a time like this?

"This is the Battle of Demons Run," she explains. The Doctor's darkest hour. He'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further. And, I can't be with him till the very end."

"Why not?" Rory presses.

"Because this is it," she sighs, walking into her cell and away from them. "This is the day he finds out who I am."

Rory storms off back to the Tardis. Peyton looks desperately to River Song and she gives her a sad smile.

"Make sure he's safe," River says softly. "These men don't know how to prevent their anger from interfering and hurting the ones they love."

"I will," she promises. "When will we see you?"

"Soon, dear. So soon," River traces the pattern on her diary. "You better hurry."

Peyton nods and scampers back to the Tardis.

"What do you mean, 'not coming'?" The Doctor yells as she enters the Tardis, Rory must have broken the news.

"She says she can't be with us till the very end, whatever that means," Rory says.

"That woman!" He fumes through clenched teeth, knuckles going white as he grips the console.

"Doctor!" Peyton chastises, jogging up the stairs to his side. "Focus."

He relaxes and moves his head slightly to look up at her.

"You're right," he mutters. He pushes himself off the console and throws the Tardis into motion.

"One more stop," he announces. "And then showtime!"

• • •

"Go on, resist. I'm ever so hungry," Madame Vastra snarls, her sword at one of the soldier's throats, her wife holding the other the same way.

The Doctor had assigned Peyton to Vastra and Jenny who had both had a wardrobe change, still in line with the Victorian aesthetic but now rather more battle-ready.

While both women were highly confident with threatening men with swords, they were both from the nineteenth century and had little to no experience with futuristic technologies, that was her job according to the Doctor.

Peyton had been armed with a sword and no idea how to use it properly so she only hopes that she won't have to, it hangs in its holster regardless. 

"Now, dear," Jenny smiles. "Which button controls the lights?"

Her captive releases a string of babbling noises from his lips as he points to a row of black switches, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Peyton," Vastra smirks at her captive. "The ties, please."

She opens one of her pockets and pulls out a handful of cable ties the Doctor had thrust at her in case of emergency.

"On your feet, lads," Jenny nods, releasing her sword just a little.

The two men shakily rush to their feet, both women still staring them down, swords resting underneath their chins.

Peyton reaches in between them, grabbing their wrists and making quick work of tying them together.

Madame Vastra shoves them away, causing them to stumble before falling to the ground several feet away.

Peyton chuckles at how compliant the soldiers are being before turning to scan the control panel in front of them.

Her eyes land on the grainy screen so see the Doctor projecting to his audience of startled soldiers.

"The code word?" Jenny asks.

"Get your coat," Peyton answers, leaning over to this row of switches, hand poised at the ready.

"Amelia Pond!" The Doctors calls, his voice muffled through the speakers. "Get your coat!"

"Now!" Vastra says. Peyton slams her hand down, pulling the light switches for the assembly area, causing the screen to go dark.

"How long should we give him?" Janny asks.

"Just a few seconds more," Peyton nods. She counts down in her head; three, two, one. With one fluid motion, she pulls the switches back up.

Peyton smiles to herself when she can no longer see the Doctor anywhere on the screen.

"Clever, isn't he?" Jenny nods.

"He has his moments," Peyton shrugs, still smiling though.

"And rather attractive," Vastra adds. Peyton rolls her eyes.

"You do realise he's a man, don't you, ma'am?"

"Mammals. They all look alike."

"Oh, thank you!"

Peyton suddenly feels very awkward standing between the married couple as they argue. She formulates a plan to escape without seeming suspicious.

She pulls her sonic pen from one of her pockets and begins scanning around for nothing in particular, she just wants an excuse to move away from in between the dispute.

"Was I being insensitive again, dear?" Madame Vastra asks. "I don't know why you put up with me."

With lightning speed, she turns and extends her tongue to an extraordinary length to hit one of the men in the side of the neck, causing him to fall limp onto his side. He had been inching towards an emergency override button on the wall. Peyton curses herself for not seeing that.

She accidentally catches the look Jenny gives to her wife after that. 'Keep it in the bedroom,' she thinks to herself.

She looks back to the screen because obviously they aren't and see the situation unfolding. "Colonel Manson is regaining control," she says.

"Where's the Doctor gone," Jenny asks.

"Just give it a second," Peyton remembers the plan and smile as the surveillance screens fill with images of Silurian soldiers armed and ready.

• • •

"Doctor," Peyton can't help but smile as he waltzes into the control room.

"Brilliant work, ladies," he nods, frown a little when he sees the unconscious soldier at the edge of the room. "Oh a spinny chair, we can have a proper reveal, like in those movies."

He sits down and faces the control panel before rehearsing a spin. Peyton rolls her eyes.

Not too has long passed before two sets of footsteps come marching up the halls and the Doctor hurried prepares himself.

"Sorry, Colonel Manton, I lied," the Doctor says before spinning himself to the Colonel as he enters the room. "Three minutes, forty-two seconds."

"Colonel Manton, you will give the order for your men to withdraw," Strax commands.

"No. Colonel Manton," the Doctor interjects. "I want you to tell your men to run away."

"You what?" The Colonel scoffs.

"Those words. Run away," the Doctor reiterates, deadpan. "I want you to be famous for those exact words. I want people to call you Colonel Run-Away. I want children laughing outside your door, cause they've found the house of Colonel Run-Away." He jumps to his feet. "And, when people come to you and ask if trying to get to me through the people I love," he roars. He pauses for a moment before lowering his voice. "Is any way a good idea, I want you to tell them your name. Look, I'm angry. That's new. I'm really not sure what's going to happen now."

"The anger of a good man is not a problem," a voice from the doorway says.

Everyone in the room turns their head to see Madame Kovarian standing in the doorway flanked by two Silurians.

"Good men, have too many rules."

"Good men don't need rules," says the Doctor darkly before slowly walking over to her. "Today is not the day to find out why I have so many."

"Give the order," Madame Kovarian.

Peyton raises her eyebrows in surprise. She wasn't expecting it to be that easy.

"Give the order, Colonel Run-Away."

"Brilliant," the Doctor smiles. "Madame Vastra, you're in charge. Peyton, I think there's someone who will want to see us."

He points to the door and Peyton excitedly catches up to him.

• • •

"Ugh, kissing and crying. We'll be back in a bit," the Doctor cringes as they enter Amy's room, grabbing Peyton's hand and turning to leave.

"Oi! You! Get in here, now," Rory calls.

Peyton excitedly shakes free of the Doctor's grip and bound down the stairs to her best friends and the baby cradled in their arms. She throws herself at Amy, not too violently, aware that she only recently popped a baby out and is probably still sore but she accepts her hug warmly.

"My daughter," Rory smiles as the Doctor two arrives by their side.

The Doctor points at her with an adorable look on his face.

"What do you think!" Rory says proudly.

"She's beautiful," Peyton coos at her as tiny thing opens her eyes.

"Hello. Hello, baby," the Doctor says unsurely.

"Melody," Amy says, causing Peyton hearts to melt. She wonders to herself what Mel back home is doing. Hopefully not in trouble again.

"Melody! Hello, Melody Pond," the Doctor laughs.

"Melody Williams," Rory corrects.

"Is a geography teacher. Melody Pond is a superhero," Amy looks down at her baby lovingly.

The Doctor leans in and inhaled deeply through his nostrils. "You're right, she does smell nice. Never really sniffed her. Maybe I should give it a go. Amelia Pond, c'mere!"

He wraps her up in his arms. "Sorry we were so long."

"It's okay, I knew you were coming," Amy smiles as they break apart. "All of you."

"It's okay, she's still all yours," the Doctor says to the baby. "And really you should call her Mummy, not big milk thing."

"Okay, what are you doing?" Peyton raises an eyebrow.

"I speak baby."

"No, you don't," Amy shakes her head.

"I speak everything, don't I, Melody Pond?" Melody proceeds to make several baby noises before the Doctor adjusts his bow tie. "No, it's not, it's cool."

They all laugh. Everything seems so calm now, like nothing had ever separated the four travellers.

"Doctor!" Madame Vastra's voice calls from the doorway. "Take a look. They're leaving."

Both Peyton and the Doctor walk up to the large window and look down at the lines of soldiers with their hands behind their heads, filing past Silurian guards.

"Demons Run is ours without a drop of blood spilled," Vastra says. "My friend, you have never risen higher."

Peyton stills, before looking back to Rory, wild-eyed and concerned. He shares her same expression, the words River said to them at Stormcage ringing in Peyton's ears.

• • •

The Doctor leads Peyton down the halls of the Tardis after sending Amy and Melody outside because the child did not like the sound of the Tardis.

He pushes open a set of doors and they find themselves in the main library. It really is less of a library and more of a museum.

"What are we looking for?" Peyton asks as the Doctor leads her toward the back of the room.

"Poor Melody Pond," he sighs. "No one listening."

"It's not our fault we can't speak baby," she rolls her eyes.

"It should be somewhere here," he mutters to himself, inspecting the many antique looking artefacts dotted around. Peyton had never been this far back in the library, the Tardis always seemed to rearrange the shelving to place exactly what she needed near the front.

She watches as he freezes suddenly, she walks up next to him and see what he is staring at.

"Is that-"

"What we're looking for? Yes," the Doctor interrupts.

The simple wooden crib is so intricately designed. Words written in Galifreyan decorate the sides, she can't read it but can identify certain aspects of it. There's not much time to study and learn an untranslatable language when they're hurtling through all of space and time.

He grabs it and starts heading back up towards the console room. She walks alongside him.

"So where are we off too next?" Peyton asks.

"Oh, I don't know, somewhere where none of you get kidnapped again, hopefully," he says. Peyton laughs. 

Walking through the console room they can hear the faint sounds of conversation from outside the Tardis.

"She's not hungry," the Doctor says as they both leave the box. "She's tired. Sorry, Melody, they're just not listening."

"What's this?" Amy smiles.

"Very pretty, according to your daughter," the Doctor scratches the baby's cheek.

"It's a cot," Rory observes.

"No flies on the Roman," the Doctor sighs. "Give her here. Hi!"

The Doctor gently pulls Melody out of her mother's arms and places her in the cot with a kiss on her forehead.

"But where would you get a cot?" Rory asks.

"It's old, really old," Amy notices.

Peyton runs a finger along the Gallifreyan writing.

"Doctor," she reaches a realisation. "Do you have children?"

"No," he says, after a telling pause.

"Have you ever had children?" She presses.

The Doctor takes an intense interest in tucking Melody into the cot instead of answering. "No, it's real, it's my hair."

"Who slept in here?" Amy takes over the interrogation.

"Doctor, we need you in the main control room," Vastra's voice calls over the PA.

"Be right there!" The Doctor calls before looking to his companions. "Things to do. I've still got to work out what this base is for. We can't leave till we know."

"But this is where I was?" Amy asks quietly. "The whole time I thought I was on the Tardis, I was really here?"

"Uh, Centurion, permission to hug?" The Doctor asks.

"Be aware, I do have a sword," Rory warns.

"At all times," the Doctor salutes before engulfing Amy in his arms.

He mutters something to her that neither Peyton nor Rory could quite hear.

"You gotta go with him to the control room," Rory whispers to her over the cot.

"What?" She whispers back.

"Make sure he doesn't, you know, 'fall so much further'," he says, glancing toward him.

"You're probably right," she nods, River's haunting words reverberating in her skull.

"That's probably enough hugging now," Rory interrupts. Amy and the Doctor pull apart and Amy laughs. "So her Flesh avatar was with us all that time?"

"But that means they were projecting a control signal right into the Tardis," Peyton frowns. "Wherever we were in time and space."

"Yeah they're very clever," the Doctor mumbles.

"Who are?" Amy asks.

"Whoever wants our baby," Rory says.

"Why do they want her in the first place?" Peyton asks.

"Exactly," says the Doctor.

"Is there anything you're not telling us?" Rory presses. "You knew Amy wasn't real, you never said."

"Well, I couldn't be sure they weren't listening," he turns to walk away.

"But you always hold out on us, please not this time. Doctor, it's our baby. Tell us something. One little thing," Amy calls after him, causing him to halt and spin back around. 

"It's mine," he sighs.

"What is?" Rory asks.

"The cot," he points. "It's my cot. I slept in there." He turns and proceeds to walk away.

Rory gives Peyton a look and she jogs to catch up with him.

"Coming with?" The Doctor raises an eyebrow as she appears at his side.

"Well, just in case," she pats the hilt of her sword with a smile.

"Of course," he chuckles.

He doesn't say anything for a bit, they both just walk side by side down the metal corridor.

"You asked me before if I had any plans on where we're going next," he says.

"Yeah? Got something in mind?"

"Anywhere you want," he says, he looks down at her with that dopey smile. "And I thought you might want to be my co-pilot, second in command, Doctor-in-training."

"What are you saying?" Peyton fiddles with the hilt of the sword, looking up at him.

"Well, you have Gallifreyan blood running through your veins, a gift that, if I am in any way responsible, I have the obligation to nurture that natural ability inside of you," he says, flapping his hands about as his tone attempts to be nonchalant. 

"Since when have you been responsible?" She teases. 

"Since I realised that you might be sticking around for a while," he says, staring ahead. 

"Well, I'm sure I am," she chuckles. "And I'm sure Amy and Rory feel the same."

"You know I've travelled with people before. Either they leave for a normal life, or they..."

"Doctor?"

"And the Ponds, I'm sure won't need to take care of me anymore now that they have a real baby."

"I'm certain that they'll always have time for you," Peyton says comfortingly, grabbing his upper arm and leaning into his shoulder. 

He chuckles softly. "But I have a feeling that you feel like Earth isn't enough for you. You're born for something more."

The blonde-haired girl falls away from him, still walking close by his side. "Earth will always be home. But you're right, after travelling with you, being home for too long would feel claustrophobic."

"So what do you think?" he says. "Saving the day, training wheels mode?"

"Training wheels?" Peyton laughs.

"You take charge, you call the shots but I'll step in if anything goes wrong," he smiles down at her.

"Really?" Peyton breaks out into an uncontainable smile. "You trust me to do that?"

"Of course," he wraps an arm around her shoulders in a side hug.

"You'll step in if people starting getting hurt, right?" Peyton says, suddenly doubting herself.

"Peyton, I won't let that happen," he promises. "But until that happens, and I'm not saying it will, I'll follow your every order." He spins around, walking backward in front of her and salutes.

"Will you now," she places her hands on her hips and he falls back beside her. "I'm sure that will be really easy for you."

"Me?" He scoffs. "I'm great at following orders."

Peyton rolls her eyes but can't stop smiling. He trusts her to play Doctor for a day. She can't help but feel proud of herself that he thinks she can handle something like that.

They eventually come upon the control room and she follows the Doctor inside.

"You've hacked into their software?" He says as he walks across the room to Dorium who sits at the desk.

"I believe I sold it to them."

"Ooh, so what have we learned?"

"That anger is always the shortest distance to a mistake," Madame Vastra says curtly from the shadows.

"I'm sorry?" The Doctor turns to her.

"The words of an old friend, who once found me in the London Underground, attempting to avenge my sisters on perfectly innocent gunnel diggers."

"Well," he walks over to her. "You were very cross at the time."

"As you were today, old friend. Point taken, I hope," she chastises. The Doctor walks toward the window. "No, I have a question. A simple one. Is Melody human?"

"Sorry what?" The Doctor does a double-take, Peyton's eyebrows raise so far that they almost reach her hairline. "Of course she is. Completely human, what are you talking about?"

"They've been scanning her since she was born," Dorian says. "And I think they found what they were looking for."

He pulls up an image on the screen. A double helix of DNA.

"Human DNA," the Doctor says, walking toward the monitor.

"Look closer," Vastra instructs. "Human plus, specifically plus, Time Lord."

"But she's human," the Doctor protests. "She's Amy and Rory's daughter. Peyton, as much as she shouldn't exist, no offence, makes sense. Her mother human, her Father Time Lord."

Peyton scoffs at his 'no offence'.

"You've told me about your people," Vastra says calmly. "They became what they did through prolonged exposure to the time vortex. The untempered schism."

"Over billions of years, it didn't just happen!" The Doctor exasperates.

"So how close is she? Could she even regenerate?"

"No, no!" The Doctors rebuffs "I don't think so. I mean, Peyton is _actually_ half Time Lord and we don't know if she's going to go sporting a new face any time soon."

"You don't sound so sure."

"Because I don't understand how this happened," the Doctor is clearly beginning to get frustrated now, pacing as he does.

"Which leads me to ask, when did it happen?"

"When?" The Doctor's voice raises a few octaves.

"I am trying to be delicate. I know how you can blush," Vastra scoffs. Dorium chuckles to himself. "When did this baby, begin?"

"Oh, you mean," the Doctor says quietly, all colour draining from his face.

"Quite."

"Well how would I know?" he asks, fixing his bow tie. "That's all humany private stuff. It just sort of goes on. They don't put up a balloon or anything!"

He storms out of the room, Peyton and Vastra are quick to follow him.

"But could the child have begun on the Tardis?" Vastra calls after him. "In flight, in the vortex?"

"No, no, impossible!" He exclaims, pausing in the corridor. "It's all running about, sexy fish vampires and blowing stuff up. And Rory was even there in the beginning. Then he was dead, then he didn't exist, then he was plastic. Then I had to reboot the whole universe. Long story. So, technically the first time they were on the Tardis together, in this version of reality, was on their..."

He trails off but Peyton is following and realises where he arrived.

"On their what?" Vastra asks.

"On their wedding night," she says flatly, meeting the Doctor's eyes.

As little as she didn't want to think about her two best friends having sex, especially in the room next to her's, no matter how soundproof, he is right.

"It doesn't make sense," he pushes past them back into the room, pacing again. "You can't just cook yourself a Time Lord!"

"Of course not. But you gave them one hell of a start," Vastra sighs. "And they've been working very hard ever since."

"And yet they gave in so easily. Does this not bother anyone else?" Dorium asks, getting up from his chair.

Peyton falters for a moment, looking at the large blue man. He's right. 

"Amy, she worried the baby would have a time head, she said that, that-"

"Only you would ignore the instincts of a mother," Vastra accuses.

"Or the instincts of a coward," Dorium snarks. "This is too easy. There is something wrong."

"Why even do it?" The Doctor queries. "If you could get your hands on a brand new Time Lord, what for?"

"A weapon?" Vastra suggests.

"Why would a Time Lord be a weapon?" Peyton asks.

"Well, they've seen him," Vastra nods toward the Doctor.

"Me?" The Doctor frowns.

"Mr Maldovar, you're right. This was too easy," Vastra nods. "We should get back to the others."

Vastra and Dorium walk out of the room as the Doctor plops down in the chair.

"Go with them," he says.

Just from his tone of voice, Peyton gets that he is not in the mood to argue with her so she does what she's told, heading out of the room to catch up with Vastra.

• • •

A loud crash rings through their ears and light surrounds the Tardis.

"What's that?" Amy asks as she clutches her baby.

Madame Vastra walks toward the box with an outstretched hand. She leans forward and is zapped back by a field of electricity that Peyton assumes would have killed her if it weren't for her thick gloves. "Force field," she announces.

Another bang can be heard, this time from the other side of the hangar they find themselves in.

"And those are the doors," the lone cleric says. "Locking."

"Apparently we're not leaving," Vastra says through gritted teeth.

Peyton can hear chanting. Strange and melodic. "Is that the monks?" She asks.

"Oh, dear God," Dorium gasps. "That's the attack prayer."

"Come with me," Rory taps her on the shoulder and grabs his wife's arm. Melody starts to cry loudly in her arms.

"This is where we'll make our stand!" Vastra says. "Clear lines of sight on all approaches.

Rory leads them to a covered corner of the room, shielded by crates.

"Rory, no offence to the others, but you let them all die first, okay?" Amy says as she sits down with Melody held close to her chest.

"You're so Scottish," he laughs before sharing a kiss with her.

"Centurion, you're needed," Vastra calls.

With a kiss to his daughter's head, he gets up to leave and Peyton follows.

"Peyton, stay here," Rory says turning to her.

"No, I can fight. I want to fight!" She wraps her hand around the hilt of the sword.

"You have no idea how to use that," he reasons.

"Sure I do, swing and then make sure no one is swinging at me!" She counters.

"Stay with, Amy, please," he places a hand on her shoulder. She doesn't answer. Sulking in place as she watches him walk away.

• • •

"Amy!" She hears the Doctor shout.

Her head of flaming red hair rests on Peyton's shoulder. She hasn't said anything in a while.

Jenny sits on the other side of Amy, rubbing her back gently.

Peyton sees the Doctor walk in their direction through wet eyes. He wrings his hands nervously.

"So they took her anyway," Amy says, her voice croaky from crying. "All this was for nothing."

"I am so..." the Doctor struggles for a moment. "Sorry."

Amy gets to her feet to face him and for a second it looks like she's about to scream at him. The Doctor steps forward but she flinches away.

"Amy," Jenny says. "It's not his fault."

"I know," Amy chokes. "I know." She walks away from him and Peyton gets up to follow, Rory quick behind them.

He pulls her into a hug and she clings to him.

Peyton stands back. It's a moment for them. Their child, snatched from their arms.

She sits down on a crate and leans back against a pole, closing her eyes as she feels the cool metal touch her head.

A minute or two passes before she hears the crackle of electricity and she immediately knows what it is. A time vortex manipulator.

"Well then, soldier," she hears River's unmistakable voice. "How goes the day?"

Amy and Rory break apart and Rory immediately looks to Peyton. She returns his wild-eyed stare before jumping off the crate and heading back to the group where she sees River Song standing casually in front of the Tardis.

"Where the hell have you been?" The Doctor says darkly, storming up to her. "Every time you've asked, I have been there! Where the hell were you today?"

"I couldn't have prevented this," she says calmly despite the fuming Doctor in her face.

"You could have tried!"

"And so, my love, could you," she tilts her head as he walks away. "I know you're not alright", she looks towards Amy. "But hold tight Amy because you're going to be."

"You think I wanted this?" The Doctor yells. "I didn't do this. This, this wasn't me!"

"This was exactly you. All this, all of it," River says matter-of-factly. "You make them so afraid. When you began, all those years ago, sailing off to see the universe, did you ever think you would become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name? Doctor? The word for healer and wise man, throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word 'Doctor' means mighty warrior. How far you've come. And now they've taken a child. The child of your best friends. And they're going to turn her into a weapon, just to bring you down. And all this, my love, in fear of you."

The Doctor says nothing, staring her down defiantly. "Who are you?"

"Oh look your cot! Haven't seen that in a very long time," she teases, running toward it.

"No, no, you tell me. Tell me who you are," the Doctor says as he grabs her arm.

Their exchange by the cot is too quiet to hear but not after too long Peyton hears the Doctor giggle, a stark turnaround from his disposition a few seconds ago. He even turns to Peyton for a second, smiling wide.

"Vastra, Jenny, till the next time," he points finger guns in their direction. "Rory, Amy, I know where to find your daughter and on my _life_ she will be safe. Peyton, be good. And River, get them all home.

"Doctor!" Peyton calls after him as he heads toward the Tardis.

"No!" Amy shouts. "Where are you going?"

He laughs, pointing to River before slamming the door in Peyton's face and quickly dematerialising. She stands beside Amy as the rush of wind blows strands of stray hair everywhere.

"Where is he going? What did you tell him?" Amy turns to march toward River song, Peyton follows on her heels.

"Amy, you have to stay calm," she says. Amy elects to ignore her and picks a handgun up off the floor.

"Tell me what you told the Doctor," she repeats herself.

"Amy, no," Rory pleads.

"Aimes, stop it," Peyton reasons.

"It's okay, she's fine," River insists. "She's good. It's the Tardis translation matrix, it takes a while to kick in with the written word. You have to concentrate."

Amy looks down to the writing on the side of the crib.

"I still can't read it," she says, adamantly pointing the gun at River, Rory grabs it.

"It's Gallifreyan, it doesn't translate," Peyton sasy.

"Exactly," River agrees. She picks up a green piece of cloth Amy had with her from inside the cot and gives it to her. "But this will."

She presses it to Amy's hand, covering it with her own. "It's your daughter's name in the language of the forest.

"I know my daughter's name."

"Except they don't have a word for 'pond', because the only water in the Forest is the river. The Doctor will find your daughter and he will care for her, whatever it takes. And I know that..."

Peyton and Rory both lean in toward Amy and watch as the Tardis translates inside their heads, the word 'River' written in beautiful gold embroidery. Amy turns it gently onto its reverse. The word 'Song' is written out.

Peyton looks up from the cloth to River in front of them. River Song. Melody Pond. Oh my God.

"It's me," she reveals. "I'm Melody, I'm your daughter."


	23. In Leadworth #1

After River dropped Peyton off outside her childhood home she stood still in the cool English air for some time. Everything has changed.

She looks up into the starry sky above, almost praying that a little blue box will drop down from the sky. Of course, it never does. She walks up to the door and feels around in the dirt of the pot plant beside it for the spare key, not wanting to wake her parents. 

Everything is just as she left it. She never bothered looking for an apartment in Leadworth as she was always busy travelling, it would be a waste to rent an apartment that she would hardly use. She pads through the old house, avoiding the creaky stair as she ascends to her bedroom. The door is ajar, her mother must have done some cleaning while she was gone. She enters into the room. 

Moonlight and the dim glow of street lamps pour through the window as the curtains are drawn open. Her sheets had been changed since she slept there last and the bed was meticulously made. She smiles. 

She pulls her sonic pen out of her pocket and fiddles with it for a second. River said she dropped her off a month after they all left for America. It almost seems like a lifetime ago when she watched the Doctor die by the lakeside.

Peyton groans silently as she remembers that she left her laptop and phone charger on the Tardis. She places her phone on the nightstand, it's probably dead anyway.

She shrugs off her clothes, dropping them on the floor unceremoniously before finding a baggy shirt throwing it over herself. she pulls her sandy hair out of the high ponytail, massaging her scalp as it falls around her shoulders. 

She peels back the covers, trying her best to remain silent before diving beneath then. The scent of her home and the same detergent her mum has been using her whole life fills her nostrils as she buries her face in a pillow. 

With a soft exhale, she stares at her wall, lying perfectly still in the night. A thousand thoughts running through the young Time Lady's head. Soon, thinking tires her out and she falls into a slumber, dreams stalked by astronauts, lakes, and River Song.

• • •

"Peyton!" 

She sits bolt upright, head groggy with sleep at the sudden high pitched disturbance. Peyton rubs her eyes and sees her mother standing in the doorway to her bedroom. 

"You didn't tell us you were coming home!" she cries. "And what time did you get home?"

The woman rushes over and sits beside her adopted daughter, throwing her arms around her shoulders causing Peyton to laugh. "I thought I'd surprise you. I didn't want to wake you and Dad."

Speaking of, Peyton's father, a man far from the blonde psychopath that the Doctor once knew, rushes into the room startled by his wife's cry.

"You and Amy and Rory just left so suddenly, America? What did you get up to, any photos?" Her mother says excitedly.

"You have no idea," Peyton smiles knowingly.

"It's so good to see you," Mr Barrett reaches over and presses a kiss to the top of his daughter's head. "I know what we'll do, I'll go down and start breakfast. What do you want? We've got all the ingredients for pancakes, maybe waffles. Bacon, ice cream, maple syrup, all the fixings!"

"That sounds amazing."

• • •

A summer passes. Warm days in Peyton's sleepy hometown that remind her of so many summers past. The town of Leadworth hasn't changed but she, Rory, and Amy have. Peyton spends her days walking around the town, the normality of it all feeling so alien to her.

She has lunch in the little cafe with the Ponds and Mels, discuses her parent's holiday plans in her old backyard, she even has an awkward encounter with her English teacher from tenth grade in the grocery store.

It's all so, ordinary.

But she's not ordinary.


	24. The Day they were Attacked by Dolls

When Peyton sees the image on the front page of the newspaper she bolts to Amy and Rory's place. Her spare key opens the door to find an empty apartment.

Great.

She called Mels to see if she'd heard from them. No answer.

She tries the Doctor's number, he never answers. She'd left him seventeen voicemails over the course of the last three months and without a word in reply.

This time, the call connects.

"This is the Doctor's phone," Peyton hears Rory's voice answer. She suddenly gets quite angry. The word 'Doctor' written in the fields, the Pond's house empty. She knows exactly what happened.

"Rory," she snaps. "It's me,"

"Oh... Hi, Peyton," he replies timidly.

"Why'd you go without me!" She shouts into the phone, crossing her free arm in front of her chest.

"Well, you said you were busy," Rory explains.

"What? If you had said you were going to create crop circles to call the Doctor I would have cancelled!"

"You can't cancel on your mum's birthday breakfast," Rory reasons.

"Shut up!"

"Right, Yep. Coming to get you now," he says.

Peyton hangs up defiantly and storms out of their house, locking the door behind her. They better have a bloody good excuse.

The beautiful blue box materialises in front of her on the pavement. She marches in and slams the door, glaring up at the three individuals up on the console landing.

"Why didn't you come get me?" She asks, standing at the bottom of the stairs with her hands on her hips

"Well, having a gun pointed at one's head sort of limits your ability to do these sorts of things," the Doctor says, flapping his hands.

"Wait, what?"

They explain to her the whole story.

Peyton can't believe it. Mels was River Song, that whole time. She grew up with her, one of her closest friends. 

"So are we all good?" The Doctor asks tentatively.

"I'll allow it," she says stiffly, not wanting to admit defeat. "But you could have made the situation more urgent," she points in Amy and Rory's direction.

"Won't happen again," Amy nods.

"Good, because we've got a distress call to chase," the Doctor claps before launching himself around the console.

"Huh?" Peyton blinks at how sudden it is.

"Some needs us to fight some monsters," Rory says.

"Good thing that's our specialty," she smiles as she grips the console, ready to take flight

• • •

They wander out into the chilly air of East London and look around at their surroundings. It's night time now, despite it being morning when she stepped aboard the time machine. A dishevelled, kind of dodgy looking apartment building stands in front of them, the smell of garbage hits her nostrils from the direction of what must be the bin collection area.

"No offence, Doctor-"

"Meaning the opposite?" The Doctor cuts Rory off.

"But we could get a bus somewhere like this."

"The exact opposite," the Doctor rebuts.

"Well, I suppose it can't all be planets and history and stuff, Rory," Peyton sighs.

"Yes, it can!" The Doctor disagrees. "Course it can! Planets and history and stuff. That's what we do! But not today, no. Today we're answering a cry for help from the scariest place in the universe, a child's bedroom." He takes out his sonic and begins scanning.

The Doctor runs ahead and presses the button for an elevator and waits for the rest of them to catch up. She sees him take out his psychic paper and look at it keenly.

"Please save me from the monsters?" Rory reads aloud over his shoulder. "Who sent that?"

The Doctor snaps it shut and hits him on the side of the head with it. "That's what we're here to find out,"

"Sounds like something a kid would say," Peyton points out.

"Exactly. A scared kid. A very scared kid," the Doctor folds his arms. "So scared that somehow its cry for help got through to us in the Tardis."

"But you've traced it here?" she asks, unsure of how anything that powerful could be from somewhere like this.

"Exactly. Ah!" The Doctor smiles as the elevator doors open and he leads them all inside. "Going up."

"So how do we find this kid?" Amy asks as the elevator rumbles as they make their ascent.

"Split up, door knocking," the Doctor explains as they elevator comes to a stop with a sweet, _ding_. "Ask if anything's been weird."

Peyton hates door knocking

• • •

Peyton sees the back of his stupid tweed jacket further up the corridor, looking off the balcony at something.

"Doctor," she whispers hoarsely, trying not to bother the tenants. "No luck."

She'd had a door slammed in her face more times than can count this evening and it had put her in a rubbish mood.

"Don't fret, Peyton," he says, spinning around to her. "The night's still young."

She walks next to him along the walkway until they run into Amy and Rory at an intersection.

"Hey! Any luck?" Amy asks.

"Three old ladies, a traffic Watson from Croatia and a man with ten cats," the Doctor replies.

"No more luck with me, either," Peyton shrugs.

"What are we actually looking for?" Rory asks.

"Ten cats!" The Doctor gasps. "Scared kid, remember?"

"I found scary kids. Does that count?" Amy suggests.

"Hm. Try next floor down," the Doctor shakes his head. "Catch you later," he pats Peyton on the shoulder before running off.

Usually, she'd bolt after him but tonight she just sighs.

"Maybe it was, you know, junk mail," says Rory, pushing the button for the lift before leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

"What?" Amy raises an eyebrow.

"The message on the psychic paper. Maybe it was just nothing," he says.

The doors to the lift open and Peyton and Amy walk in, Rory follows quickly.

Peyton presses the button for the fourth floor and the doors close gently with a ding.

Suddenly the elevator drops, causing them to let loose a scream.

Falling, falling, falling as if the lift's cords had been snapped.

The sounds of Peyton's screams mingle with Amy and Rory's as they hurtle down the shaft. She presses herself up against the dirty wall and closes her eyes tight.

There was no way the Doctor could get them out of this one

• • •

The number of times she'd woken up in pain on the floor over the past year is starting to become concerning.

Peyton forces her eyes open to see only faint shapes in the darkness.

"Amy, Peyton," she hears Rory croak.

"I'm here, Rory," she replies, wincing as she sits up.

"Amy, where are you?" Rory whispers.

"Yeah. Here, it's me." Peyton hears her stumble onto her hands and knees and she looks in the direction of the noise she's making, Peyton's eyes begin to adjust to the darkness and she can see her a little better.

Peyton gets to her feet and tries to look around but she still can't see much.

A light appears, illuminating Rory's face. Of course he carries a torch, what a dork.

"You guys okay?" He asks.

Peyton and Amy both grumble in response.

"What happened to the lift?" Peyton asks, looking at the ceiling. "We were in a lift, weren't we?" The memory is kinda hazy.

"Yeah, we... I remember getting in and then..." Amy mumbles.

Rory groans.

"What?" Peyton frowns.

"We're dead aren't we?" Rory rolls his eyes in a frighteningly nonchalant way despite what he just said.

"Eh?" Amy raises an eyebrow.

"The lift fell and we're dead."

"Shut up," Amy glares.

"We're dead, again!"

"Shut up," Peyton shakes her head. "Let's just find out where we are."

Amy and Rory get to their feet and Rory shines the torch around the room.

Old furniture, human. They're still on Earth but maybe they've travelled back in time? Something about the place is off though, Peyton can't put her finger on it.

The three walk into a new room and take a look inside.

"It's obvious what's happened," Rory says.

"Yeah? Really? Because it's not obvious to me," Amy says sarcastically.

"The Tardis has gone funny again," Rory explains. "Some time... slippy... thing. You know, the Doctor's back there in EastEnder's land and we're stuck in the past. This is probably 1700 and something."

"Yay! My favourite year," Amy says sarcastically. "Peyton, can't you do some scanny thing with the sonic?"

"It doesn't just tell you what year it is," she sighs. "Call me when you need a door unlocking or need to boil an egg."

• • •

They find themselves in a kitchen. The cupboards and shelves are bare except for one or two items. Like the rest of the house, it is dark.

While inspecting the countertop, a clanging noise makes them jump. Peyton turns around to see Rory's torchlight pointing around Amy who looks apologetic in front of the fireplace.

"Bit neglected, whatever it is," she says coolly.

"Let's find the front door at least," Peyton says. "Then we can work out where we are. When we are."

She looks back at the counter and hears Amy tap something. "Guys, look at this," she says.

They both turn to look at her.

"What? It's a copper pan," Rory shrugs.

"No, it's not," she smiles, knocking on it and it makes a very not-metallic sound. "It's wood. It's made of wood and just painted to look like copper."

"That's stupid," Rory frowns as he knocks on the pan too.

Rory points his torch at the cupboards again and Peyton sees something, an oil lamp.

"Wait, hang on!" She rushes forward as Rory's light continues to pan around the room.

Peyton grabs the object off the counter and immediately notices that it's plastic, not metal and glass.

Underneath it, she feels something. "There's a switch," she says. "There shouldn't be a switch."

"Just turn it on," Amy says.

Peyton pushes it and the light inside flickers to life.

"Well, not 1700 and something then," Rory.

"Hmm," Peyton replies, holding the lamp up to get a better look at the room.

They walk around as Peyton hears Rory and Amy rummage through the draws. They both scream.

Peyton rushes over to see a giant eyeball sitting in the drawer, as if gazing up at them with its blue iris.

The three of them look between each other before Amy reaches in to touch it.

They all cringe just before her fingertips touch its surface but as her fingernails touch the side of the eye it makes an odd noise.

"It's glass!" She gasps. "It's a glass eye."

Peyton reaches down and tap it herself. Glass. That's really creepy.

Rory's torch starts flickering and the girls look up at him.

"Stop doing that," Amy whispers.

"It's not me," he counters.

After a few more flashes it stays on. Thoroughly creeped out, Peyton says "Come on."

"Yep," Amy agrees.

Before they leave the room Amy pipes up. "Hang on." She runs back to the table in the middle of the room and grabs the pan, with an intimidating look in her eye.

• • •

A foyer. Thank God.

"At last," Rory sighs, rushing to the grand front doors. "Oh!" He bangs a fist against them.

"What is it?" Peyton gulps.

"No doorknob!" He cries. "Wooden pans, a massive glass eyes and now, no doorknob!"

"And this clock," Amy adds.

"Huh," Peyton walks over to her.

"Look. The hands, they're painted on," she reaches up and touches the clock face.

The sound of a young child giggling echos through the creepy old house. The three of them jump and look at each other. Rory raises a finger to his lips.

• • •

Their journey through the house does nothing to ease Peyton's anxiety. Each room they enter only presents more oddities, allowing Peyton to piece together a theory. She hasn't spoken up about it, mainly because it's so bizarre and she doesn't want to scare the Ponds further, but all the clues point to them being stuck inside a child's dollhouse.

They come upon a large staircase and they hear the giggle again. "You hear that?" Peyton whispers.

"Yeah," Rory answers. They look toward a door on the other side of the room and slowly inch toward it, Rory sheilds Amy behind him with his arm as Peyton takes the lead, handing the lamp back to her.

"They're getting closer," Peyton mutters.

"They?" Rory says, alarmed.

Light footsteps followed by more giggling send chills down her spine.

Rory's torch points at the door as they shuffle closer, the giggling now clearly coming from the other side.

Peyton reaches out for the doorknob and sends one last glance to her companions who both give her an encouraging nod.

She does it quickly, like ripping off a bandaid she pulls the door open only to scream and jump backwards as they see what it reveals.

A china doll, human-sized but with doll-like proportions. Its eyes are missing, leaving dark eye sockets and it's milky white skin, lightly cracked. The woollen straggly hair hung down to frame its large face.

It's painted expression doesn't move, Peyton breathes a sigh of relief. It's not real, she tells herself. Just a doll.

But then who, or what, is making the giggling noises.

"It's, it's just a dummy," Amy pants. "It's just a dummy."

"This is, weird," Rory shakes his head.

"Yeah, says the time-travelling nurse," says Amy, trying to lighten the mood.

Peyton pulls out her sonic and scans the thing up and down. Nothing. No signs of life, and it's wood, good thing it isn't alive then or the tool would be useless at stopping it.

"Let's just, leave it for now," Amy warns.

"Come on," Rory nods to the staircase.

• • •

"Why aren't there any lights?" Rory complains. "I miss lights. You don't really miss things till they're gone, do you?"

Peyton bites her lip and has a sudden realisation as to why the Doctor withholds information sometimes. If she tells the two of them, it will only freak them out, it's freaking her out.

"It's like what my nan used to say, 'You'll never miss the water till the well runs dry'," he rambles

"Rory," Amy warns.

"Except light I mean, not water. Lights are great, aren't they? I mean if this place was all lit up, we wouldn't even be worried at all."

"Rory," Peyton cuts him off. "Panicking, a bit."

"Yeah," he nods. "Yeah, sorry."

A door slams ahead. "Help me! Please! Keep them away from me!"

A greasy looking man runs down the corridor toward them. It's the dolls, walking stiffly behind him. Peyton gasps in horror as she watches them swarm on him, pushing him to the ground.

The man cries out while the dolls giggle. Peyton pulls Amy and Rory behind her and starts inching back.

Suddenly the man stops screaming, instead, he shakes in the hold of the dolls.

His head begins to swell and matted yellow wool grows over his barely-there hair.

Peyton gulps thickly and can feel her heartbeats in her skull, pushing Amy and Rory further behind her.

Slowly it's head turns, revealing the same white-painted face and empty eye sockets as the rest of the dolls. Even the clothes had been changed. It gets to its feet.

"I take it all back," Peyton says meekly. "Panic now."

She turns quickly and the Ponds do too, they sprint away from the giggling mannequins as quick as they can muster.

She sees up ahead, a room with a door. A door is good.

Peyton follows Amy and Rory in and quickly slams the heavy wooden door closed behind her before leaning her back on it. Amy and Rory join her too.

As she pants, she looks across to Rory beside her and Amy on the other side of him. Oh God, where is the Doctor?

The sound of giggling and footsteps slowly fades after a while and Peyton leans her head back on the door with a loud exhale.

"Dolls house," says Rory.

"Sorry?" Amy replies.

"This is a dolls house, we are trapped in a dolls house," Rory reiterates.

"Gold star for Rory," Peyton breathes.

"You knew?" Amy frowns.

"I guessed," she admits.

Peyton relaxes for just a second before the giggle returns, this time the dolls bang against the door, rattling the doorknob by her elbow. She grabs it.

"Lock it!" Amy yells.

"There isn't a lock!" Peyton yells back.

They groan against the effort and Peyton feels her feet begin to slip underneath her as the dolls seem to be doubling their efforts.

"No, no, no no!" Peyton shouts, turning around to face the door, trying to push back against the dolls who have managed to gain an advantage.

With a great heave from the three earthlings, they manage to close it again.

"Rory, the table!" Peyton says through gritted teeth.

He pushes himself off the door and grabs a small table which on second glance seems to be a giant spool of thread.

Peyton jumps off the door at the last second so he can slam it up under the doorknob.

Amy comes off the door too. "We can't stay in here. We've got to get out!"

"Er, how?" Rory shrugs.

"Peyton, do a sonic thing!"

"Everything's made of wood!" She reminds her.

"We gotta take control," she says. "Take control of the only thing we can. Letting them in."

"Letting them in?" Rory sputters.

"Letting them in?" Peyton echoes.

"And then we surprise them," Amy whispers. "We open the door and we push past them. Kick them, punch them. Anything. Okay?"

"Okay," Peyton and Rory say in unison.

"Time to play!" A dolls high pitched voice calls.

Peyton looks between the two of them, grabbing a hand from each of them and giving them a squeeze.

Amy runs toward the door and places her hands on the spool. Rory spots a toy mop leaning up against the wall and grabs it. Peyton picks up Amy's pan.

Amy rips to spool away.

A doll falls into the room with a thud and Rory leads the charge, pushing another doll out of his way with the end of the mop. Peyton jumps in behind him and smacks another doll in the face with the pan.

She makes it past the dolls but hears a terrifying cry. "Rory! Peyton!"

She spins quickly to see Amy caught by the dolls.

Peyton grabs Rory as he charges toward her, dropping the pan to hold his bicep with both hands.

They watch as Amy screams. Her beautiful red hair thickens into wool as she shakes violently.

Peyton presses a hand to her mouth as the doll that was once Amy turns to them, her painted expression and empty eyes staring up at them.

"Rory, we have to move," she says, grabbing the pan from by her feet as the dolls advance once again. He stumbles over the bottom step of the staircase before allowing himself to be dragged up by her.

Peyton hadn't been noticed the dolls had been singing. Because that's not creepy. She sprints through the halls. Until she thinks she can hear the Doctor.

"It's that?" Rory pants beside her.

"Yeah!"

They hit a staircase and see the Doctor and another man, halfway up, defending themselves against a bunch of dolls with large purple scissors. This second hesitation costs them time.

"We just want to play!" A doll says behind them, uncomfortably close. Rory swings with his mop, pushing it back a little, Peyton smacks it with the pot.

"Peyton! Rory!" The Doctor calls.

"Doctor!" She yells back, preoccupied with smacking a doll's arm away from her.

"Where's Amy?" The Doctor asks as they stumble back a few steps.

Peyton points to the doll. His face pales.

"George! George, you have to face your fears! You have to face them now!" He cries. Peyton has no idea who George is. Hopefully, it's relevant. "You have to open the cupboard."

She takes another swing at the yellow-haired doll's upper arm, hoping to do some damage, it coming off would be a win but nothing works.

"We'll all be trapped in here forever in a living death! George! George! Listen to me! George listen to me!"

That does not sound good, Peyton's blood runs cold as her back presses against the Doctor's. Trapped. Nowhere to run.

After another swing, Peyton takes a peek over the railings. It's too high to jump from here without breaking a lot of bones. Crap.

"Please George, you have to end this!" The Doctor screams. "End this, end this! End this now!"

Suddenly the dolls stop, the room gets a little bit lighter.

Peyton pants as she watches the doll in front of her for any movement. It is still.

"George! George, you did it!" The Doctor pants over the railing. Peyton looks over too, to see a little boy in blue pyjamas. "You did it! It's okay, it's all okay now. Everything's going to be fine."

A creaking sound proves the Doctor otherwise. Peyton snaps back to the dolls above them as they begin to try to move past them.

The dolls that were attacking the Doctor and this other man make an advance on the boy.

"No, no," the Doctor breathes. "No, no, no, no, no! George, you created this whole world. This whole thing, you can smash it! You can destroy it!"

Peyton smacks the doll again. Gritting her teeth as the ache in her shoulders begins to set in.

"Something's holding him back. Something's holding him back. Something..." the Doctor trails off.

The doll reaches out past her seemingly having no interest in converting her anymore, only wanting to get to the child. Peyton bats its arm down but it keeps coming back up.

"That's what he did, that's what the trigger was!" The Doctor says quickly. "He thought you were rejecting him. He thought he wasn't wanted. That someone was going to come and take him away."

"Well we, we, we talked about it," the man stammers.

"Yeah, and he heard you, Alex. A Tenza's sole function is to fit in, to be wanted and you were rejecting him.

"We just couldn't cope! We needed help!"

Peyton catches Rory's eye as he shoves the Amy doll back with the butt of the mop. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep doing this.

"Yes, but George didn't know that! He thought you were rejecting him! He still thinks it!"

"But how can we keep him? How can we? He's not-"

"Not what?"

"He's not... Human."

"Dad!" The boy screams.

Peyton risks a peep at what's happening and sees the man, Alex, sprint down toward his son, shoving dolls out of the way and to the ground.

The Doctor pulls Peyton back, now there being space for them to retreat, she jumps down a few steps with Rory. But she didn't need to, the dolls had stopped.

"Whatever you are, whatever you do. You will always be my son!" The man says. "And I will never, ever, send you away."

The Doctor pats Peyton on the shoulder and rubs it comfortingly.

Peyton smiles and looks down at the father-son embrace happening below.

• • •

They step out of the lift and no one has anything to say for a second.

Weren't they... Didn't they all just... Huh?

Peyton looks to Amy and Rory on either side of her.

"Was I...?"

"Yeah," Peyton and Rory reply in unison.

The metal doors close behind them and they head to the Tardis.

• • •

They sit in a row on the stone wall beside the Tardis. The sun has risen over London the day has started for many commuters. Cars zipping back and forth on the busy road behind them.

They see the figure of the Doctor slowly get bigger as he comes toward them but they are happy to sit and wait for him. It has been a long night.

"Come on you three," he claps as he approaches them. "Things to do, people to see, whole civilisations to save. You feeling okay?"

He sits down between Peyton and Amy.

"Erm, I think so," Amy shrugs.

"Well, it's good to be all back together again," the Doctor throws an arm around their shoulders, pulling them close. "In the flesh. Come on, did someone mention something about planets and history and stuff?"


	25. The Day that Rory Has to Choose

"Apalapucia," the Doctor smiles.

"Say it again," Amy requests.

"Apalapucia," he pulls a lever on the console.

"Apalapu..." Peyton struggles.

"Cia!"

"Apalapucia," Rory echoes.

"Apalapucia!"

"Apalapucia," Amy laughs. "What a beautiful word."

"Beautiful word, beautiful world," the Doctor sins a dial, sending the Tardis on an angle, Peyton luckily grips the railings just in time. "Apalapucia, voted number two planet in the top ten greatest destinations for the discerning intergalactic traveller."

The Tardis lands.

"Why couldn't we go to number one?" Rory asks, walking up to the Doctor who iss wearing a new coat. Peyton asked him about it when she came down for breakfast, his usual tweed blazer nowhere to be seen. He said he was shaking things up and pointed finger guns at her, she rolled her eyes.

He had then asked if she wanted to take up his offer, be the Doctor for the day. Peyton declined, more in the mood for a relaxing vacation today, that's when he suggested Apalapucia.

"It's hideous!" The Doctor exclaims. They all jump down the stairs to the doors. "Everyone goes to number one. Planet of the coffee shops. Apalapucia! I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades! I give you.."

He unlocks the door and throws it open, revealing the underwhelming sight of a white room with a single white door.

"Doors?" Peyton asks sarcastically.

"Doors, yes, I give you doors," he sticks his head beside hers out the door before brushing past her, his brown trench coat flapping behind him. "But on the other side of those doors, I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades."

Peyton steps out of the Tardis and shoves her hands in the pockets of her black Bomber jacket the Doctor got her from the 2316 Olympics with its colourful logo embroidered on the back.

The room seems to go on forever, like some sort of endless lobby. Peyton follows the Doctor to the door.

"Have you seen my phone?" Amy asks. Peyton turns to see that she's still in the doorway of the Tardis.

"Your phone?" The Doctor sighs.

"Yeah."

"Your mobile telephone? I bring you to a paradise planet, two billion light years from Earth and you want to update Twitter?"

"Sunsets. Spires. Soaring silver colonnades. It's a camera phone," she rolls her eyes.

"On the counter, by the DVDs," the Doctor answers begrudgingly.

"Thank you."

Peyton looks back to the door and then to Rory beside her. "How do we get in?"

"I don't know," the Doctor appears behind them. "Push a button."

On the side of the door, Peyton spies a mirror panel with two buttons, GREEN ANCHOR and RED WATERFALL. The buttons reflect their descriptions.

Rory leans over and presses the top button, the green anchor.

The door buzzes before opening with a hiss. Before them, another white room is revealed, this one with a glass table in the middle, an oversized magnifying glass erect on top of it and two white chairs, both on the same side of it. There's another identical door on the other side.

"Okay, so, raincheck on the soaring silver colonnades," the Doctor apologises.

"Yeah," Rory agrees.

They all enter to investigate the room.

"It's a magnifying glass," Peyton points out, looking through the glass.

The Doctor leans down to look through it on the other side, giving her a wave and a silly face as he does so.

"Hey? Hey, it's locked," Amy's voice is muffled through the door.

"Yeah, push the button," Rory calls back.

Peyton looks toward the doors but they never open. Peyton looks up to the Doctor who has already got his curious expression on his face.

"Come on, Amy," Rory murmurs.

"She can't be lost," Peyton says. "There was only one door."

"I'll grab her," Rory heads in the direction of the door and opens it. Peyton looks toward him and sees no one. Only the Tardis. "Where is she?"

The Doctor sits down in one of the seats and looks at the glass inquisitively.

"Where on wherever we are is my wife?" Rory asks.

Peyton watches the Doctor reach for and press a small green button on the oversized handle of the magnifying glass.

It goes staticky for a moment before a blurry image of Amy's face comes into view.

"Rory, I think we've found her," Peyton says quietly.

"What do you mean you've found her?" Rory frowns, walking over to the two of them. "Woah! But she's not, she's not here!" He runs around to the other side of the table.

Peyton and the Doctor both look over the glass as well. Nothing. Somehow this glass must be a screen to somewhere else.

"We can see her but she's not here," she leans in close to Amy's face.

"Where am I?" She asks. "In fact, where are you?"

The other door opens with a hiss, causing the three of them to jump up in shock. A small humanoid robot walks in. No face, just one silicone hand raised.

"Hands! Hello. Hands. Robot with hands, you two," the Doctor waves at the robot.

"Welcome to the Twostreams facility," the robot says in a monotone voice. "Will you be visiting long?"

"Er, Doctor, something's happening," Amy says.

The Doctor rushes over and Peyton can see that the image is going staticky again.

"Amy! Stay calm! Stay still! Ah, times gone wobbly," the Doctor whips out his sonic screwdriver, trying to stabilise the image. "I hate it when it does that."

"Will you be visiting long?" The robot asks again, thrusting its hand toward Peyton and Rory, causing them to both lean back.

"Good question, bit sinister," Rory gulps. "What's the answer to not get us killed?"

"It's okay, I've got you, you're fine," the Doctor reassures Amy, seemingly unfazed by the robot harassing Peyton and Rory.

"Doctor, a little help here!" Peyton calls. "What do we tell it?"

"Will you be visiting long?"

"I've been here a week!" Amy snaps.

"A week!" The Doctor shrieks.

"A week?" Peyton and Rory are distracted for a second.

"I'm so sorry! Ahah! Same room, different times. Two different time streams running parallel but at different speeds," the Doctor realises. "Amy, you're in a faster time stream!"

"Doctor!" Peyton yells as the robot has them pressed up against the wall.

"Come on," the Doctor mutters, sonicing the screen again. "Gotcha! There. Stabilised, settled, Shh!"

"Why has this thing got hands?" Rory asks in a panicked tone.

Now against the wall, the robot has stopped pressing them but waves it's hand stiffly in front of their faces.

"Organic skin, ultimate universal interface," the Doctor explains, leaving the glass and walking over to them. "Grown and grafted, not born. I mean, it's actually seeing with its fingers, scanning the room. But why not just give it eyes?"

"Will you be visiting long?"

"As long as it takes. Okay, Amy," he walks back over to lean on the table. "What exactly did you do?"

"I just, I came in, and I pressed the door button."

"Oh, Amy, there are two buttons. Green anchor, red waterfall," Rory sighs as he grabs Peyton's hand to squirm their way away from the robot, it continues to follow them. "Which one did you push?"

"I pushed the red waterfall."

"Let's go," Peyton says, eager to just get away from the robot, leaving with Rory. Once the door closes between them and the Doctor, she leans forward to press the red waterfall button.

The door opens to reveal a room, similar to the green anchor room but all the furniture has been flipped. But no Amy.

They both stick their heads in before leaning back out, looking at each other with a puzzled expression and letting the doors close again. Rory groans and Peyton pats him on the back. She presses the green anchor button, revealing the room with the Doctor once more.

"We presses red waterfall and she wasn't there!" Rory shouts, very frustrated.

"Okay, so you can't follow her directly," the Doctor gets up from his chair to pace. "You know, it's never simple."

Peyton and Rory sit down in front of the glass and look at Amy through it, her expression confused and scared.

"Did you hear that, Handbot?" The Doctor asks. "She just pressed the wrong button, that's all. We're aliens, we didn't know!"

"Statement... rejected," the robot says. "Apalapucia is under planet-wide quarantine."

Peyton frowns, not in the mood to get sick as well as have to save Amy Pond for the millionth time.

"This is a kindness facility for those infected with Chen7."

The Doctor immediately grabs his coat and presses it against the bottom half of his face. Peyton follows his motion with her jacket, as does Rory. Amy covers her mouth with her hands.

"Chen7?" Peyton asks the Doctor, getting to her feet.

"The one day plague," the Doctor says grimly.

"What, you get it for a day?" Rory asks through his jacket.

"No, you get it, and you die in a day."

Great.

"There are forty thousand residents in the Twostreams facility. Please remain in the sterile areas. Visiting hours are now."

Peyton, like Rory and the Doctor, lowers her jacket from her face slowly and watch the robot be engulfed in a beam of light from the ceiling and disappear.

"Sterile area," the Doctor sits down in a chair. "We're safe."

"What about me?" Amy punches the screen.

"Chen7 only affects two-hearted races like Apalapcucians," the Doctor explains.

"And Time Lords," Rory turns to Peyton with a concerned look.

"Like Peyton and I," the Doctor confirms. "Walk into that facility, we're dead in a day." He jumps up from the seat to pace. "Time moves faster on Amy's side of the glass. Uh, Amy, you said you'd been here a week. What did you eat?"

"Nothing, I wasn't hungry," she murmurs.

"No, because with that red waterfall, time is compressed. That's the point of the Time Glass. It syncs up the two time streams for visits. You could be in here a day and watch them live out their entire lives."

"And watch them grow old in front of your eyes?" Rory frowns, slipping into the seat beside Peyton, peering through the glass at his wife. "That's horrible."

"No, Rory," the Doctor says, leaning over their shoulders to look through to Amy. "It's kind. You've got a choice. Sit by their bedside for twenty-four hours and watch them die, or sit in here for twenty-four hours and watch them live. Which would you choose?"

The Doctor rips out the glass from the table and walks to the other side of the room.

"What if we lose her!" Peyton yells after him, getting to her feet quickly.

"I'm here, Amy. I'm right here," he says reassuringly as he adjusts the glass in mid-air.

"Where are you?" Amy's voice resonates out of the glass. "Am I looking at you?"

Peyton strides to the Doctor's side and looks through the circular window.

"Turn left, just a fraction," the Doctor instructs. "Bit more, stop. That's it."

"Eye to eye?" She asks timidly.

"Eye to eye to eye."

"Hello," says, appearing by the Doctor's other shoulder.

"Amy, I'm taking the Time Glass back to the Tardis. Like satnav, I can use it to get a lock on you, then smash through using the Tardis to get you out. Until then you're on you're own."

He pulls out his sonic and circles the glass with it.

"What are you doing?" Peyton frown, not entirely comfortable with leaving Amy alone in there.

"Locking it onto Amy. Small act vandalism. No one'll mind."

An alarm begins to wail overhead as the Doctor tucks his sonic into his coat pocket.

"Ah, that'll be the small act of vandalism alarm," he smiles stiffly. "Amy, I need you to go into the facility, just for a bit. Find somewhere safe and leave us a sign. Remember, you're immune to Chen7 but don't let them give you anything. They don't know you're alien, their kindness will kill you. Now, go!"

Peyton watches as Amy grabs her jacket and heads to an identical door to the one in front of them in the room.

"Rory, I love you," she says, turning back around to face the three of them. "Now, save me. Go on."

The doors close, shielding her from their gaze.

• • •

"This is locked into Amy permanently," the Doctor explains as he hooks the glass up to the Tardis. "Play the signal into the console, the Tardis'll follow it."

The Tardis begins to whir to life and Peyton pats Rory on the back comfortingly.

"Always her," he sighs, more annoyed than upset which really makes sense after so many times.

"Now then," the Doctor says to himself loudly. "I know you're in here."

She looks over to him to see him rooting through a toolbox.

"Haha!" He cries in triumph before turning to the pair of them with a pair of black glasses sitting on his nose. "How do I look?"

"Ridiculous," says Rory.

"Not your best look," she goes with.

"Glasses are cool, see?" The Doctor takes them off and presses them onto Rory's face. "Oh yes. Hello, handsome man."

"Oh, hello," Rory blushes.

"Rorycam!" Peyton realises, the giant screens around the room lit up with the desaturated image of the Doctor's goofy grin.

"What? Oh," Rory spins around.

"We're breaking into Twostreams. Now, we can't go in, the Chen7'll kill us, no regeneration. You will be my eyes and ears," the Doctor says, flicking Rory's face lightly.

"Rorycam. Rescue Amy. Got it," Rory nods.

"That's the spirit," the Doctor smiles. "Now, smashing though a time wall could get a bit hairy."

"Is it safe?" Peyton raises an eyebrow.

"Don't know, never tired. Best hold onto something."

He pulls the large, yellow lever and with a look, Peyton and Rory both lunge for the console platform railing and wrap their arms around the metal bar.

The Doctor's warning holds true as her legs are thrown from underneath her as the Tardis attempts to break the barrier.

Peyton cries out as her knee makes contact with the metal bar, that's going to bruise, and fall to the floor as the Tardis Lands with a thud.

"You two alright?" The Doctor asks.

"Yeah," Peyton groans getting to her feet, remembering how much better a pilot River is.

"I'm convinced that you don't actually know how to fly this thing," Rory adds, earring him a glare from the Doctor.

"So where are we now?" Peyton looks to the console monitor, presenting a white room, dotted with strange sculptures.

"Hopefully," the Doctor pulls the Time Glass out of the Tardis and pulls a belt from the now tipped over toolbox and slings it around Rory's torso, placing the time glass in it to hold it by his side. "Wherever Amy is." He wraps an arm around Rory's shoulders and leads him to the Tardis doors.

Rory turns back to them, still at the console with a worried expression, Peyton smiles. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on you."

She knocks her knuckle on the monitor, currently showing a picture of her from Rory's perspective.

He nods and steps out of the box, closing the doors behind him.

"Red waterfall!" Peyton hears his voice say through the Tardis. "We made it."

"Good old us," the Doctor jumps back up to the console landing, his long coat billowing behind him.

"How do we know we're in the same Red Waterfall as Amy?" Peyton asks.

"Focus on the positive," the Doctor says after a slight pause. She sighs. "We locked onto Amy's time stream."

Peyton glances at the monitor on the far wall to see the disappointing sight of a marble lady's bust. "Eye's front, soldier!" Peyton shouts, folding her arms.

"Right, yes, sorry."

• • •

"Red Waterfall isn't one time stream," the Doctor says softly, as they both lean over the railing toward the large screen on the wall, looking at all the ghostly figures through the Time Glass.

"It's thousands," Peyton realises.

"Are they happy?" Rory asks quietly.

"Oh, Rory," the Doctor chuckles. "Trust you to think of that. I think they're happy to be alive. Better than the alternative."

Rory drops the Glass suddenly and Peyton sees a figure in makeshift armour run up to him, sword pointed threateningly at his face.

Peyton jumps back in fright.

"I come in peace!" Rory yelps, falling backwards onto the ground. "Peace, peace, peace, peace!"

She watches anxiously, his point of view not great, clearly flat on the floor now. The figure stands over him, their mask obscuring their face, not lowing their sword.

"I waited," a robotic voice says.

"Sorry, what?" Rory stammers.

"I waited for you." The figure stands, Peyton notices their wavy red hair falling over their shoulders. "I waited!"

They lift the mask up and she gasps. It's Amy, so clearly Amy. But different. But old. The weather of years lines her face, no longer smooth and porcelain-like as Peyton knows her, as she had seen her only half an hour ago.

"Amy," Rory pushes himself up. "Doctor, what's going on?"

Peyton looks to the Time Lord beside her, his face pale and eyes wide. He swallows thickly, shifting his weight from one foot to another. "Uh, I think the time stream lock might be a bit wobbly."

Now looking eye to eye with his wife, Amy raises the Sabre again. "No, please. Please!"

"Duck," she snarls.

Rory follows orders and Peyton sees Amy lunge over his head and towards something behind him.

Rory scampers out of the way and she sees Amy's sword plunged through the head of one of the hand bots.

She pulls it out and Peyton watches the robot go to the ground.

The Doctor gasps beside her.

"Handbots carry a black box in case they go offline," Amy explains before kneeling beside the thing. "I've changed the cause of termination from hostile to accidental. Easy to re-programme. Use my sonic probe."

"Amy," Rory whispers.

"Rory?" Her expression is nothing like how the Amy Peyton knows looks at Rory. Her face, so usually full of adoration or sarcastic contempt, now empty and cold.

"Why?" Rory asks.

"Because the only way I've survived this long is by making the Handbots think I don't exist. Don't touch the hands. There's anaesthetic in their skin. If they touch you, you go to sleep."

"But you're still here?" Rory says, his voice sounding like he's on the edge of tears.

Amy stands up abruptly before turning back to him. "You didn't save me."

Peyton's grip on the railing loosens, she looks up to the Doctor who's mouth has fallen open, bottom lip quivering.

"This is the saving!" Rory yells as Amy walks past him. "This is the us saving you!"

He runs in front of her to halt her path, she looks away, breaking Peyton's heart for Rory.

"The Doctor just got the _timing_ a bit out!" He shouts.

The Doctor mouths 'sorry' nervously.

"I've been on my own here a long, long time," Amy says, still looking past Rory's right shoulder instead of at his face. "I've had decades to think nice thoughts about him. Got a bit harder to stay charitable once I entered decade four."

"Forty years," Rory gasps. "Alone."

Peyton wipes her eyes with the back of her hand as tears threaten to break past her eyelids. So alone, do so long. Did she think they had abandoned her? Given up on her?

"Thirty-six years," she corrects. "Thanks."

"No," Rory backs up. "Right, I mean, you look great. Really. Really."

His gaze takes in her entire body. If Peyton weren't so upset, she would chastise him

"Eyes front, soldier," Amy says.

"Still can't win then?" Rory tries to lighten the mood.

"In fact, I can now definitely say I hate him," she pushes past Rory but turns back to him. "I hate the Doctor. I hate him more than I've ever hated anyone in my life. And you can hear every word of this through those ridiculous glasses, can't you, Raggedy Man? Hiding in that Tardis with your little _pet_."

Amy walks very closer, her face taking up the entire monitor as she stares directly at the Time Lords. Peyton finds her throat closing up, restricting her breathing after the way Amy Pond spat that last word. 

"Ah, yes," the Doctor mumbles, turning back to the console and flipping a switch. "Putting the speakerphone on."

"You told me to wait, and I did. A lifetime."

She takes a step back from Rory and Peyton spots two handbots behind her.

"Amy!" The Doctor tries to warm.

"You've got nothing to say to me."

"Amy, behind you!" Peyton cries.

• • •

"And there he is, the voice of God," Amy laughs sarcastically.

Rory had followed her to where she has set up camp for the past decades. Peyton is amazed at how well she had gotten by, even making a sonic probe and disarming the handbots.

"And, Peyton, you've been incredibly quiet," she addresses her. "I know you're there two, his little _pet_."

Her words sting, her attack is nothing like the Amy she knows.

"Grooming you to be just like him. Teaching you to be just as cold, just as aloof. Teaching you to survive, because no one is going to come for you. Lesson number one. He taught me that."

"Is that really all I taught you?" The Doctor chews on his lip.

Peyton takes a few steps back from the railing and leans back on the edge of the console, wrapping her arms around her waist, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

"Don't you lecture me, blue-box man flying through time and space on whimsy. All I've got, all I've had for thirty-six years, is cold, hard reality. So no, I don't have a sonic screwdriver because I'm not off on a romp. I call it what it is. A probe. And I call my life what it is... hell."

"Amy Pond I am going to put this right," the Doctor promises. "You said you learned from an interface. Can I speak with it?"

• • •

"Amy!" Peyton calls after her as the door slams in Rory's face. She falls into the leather chair beside her and rubs her temples while the Doctor runs down and closer to the screen on the wall.

Rory lifts the Time Glass up to his eye level and a light smudge on the door is transformed into words. Words written in bright red lipstick.

DOCTOR I'M WAITING

"You told her to leave us a sign," Rory says. "And she did. She waited."

• • •

"Rory," the Doctor calls softly from the floor of the Tardis.

"This is your fault," he shakes his head.

"I'm so sorry, but Rory-"

"No! This is your fault!" He roars. "You should look in a history book once in a while, see if there's an outbreak an outbreak of plague or not!"

"That is not how I travel!"

"Then I do not want to travel with you!"

Rory tips the glasses off his face and throws them to the floor. The image goes slightly staticky and feedback rings through the Tardis.

Peyton feels a rising wave of anger toward the Doctor swell in her chest, storming away from him and back up to the flight deck, gripping the edge of the console and leaning her weight on it.

The sound of sobbing startles her, she thinks it's her own for a second until she realises that is probably something she'd feel.

"Rory, is the Time Glass still on?" The Doctor asks. If the link's still active, I think I can hear Amy. Our Amy."

• • •

"Peyton," the Doctor's voice is barely above a whisper when she hears him behind her. His long fingers come to rest on her shoulder but she flinches away, Amy's words from earlier rattling in her brain. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she mumbles, walking the other side of the console.

"Please, Peyton," he whimpers. She looks up to meet his eyes. They're wide and glassy, tears reflecting the light emanating from the console. "I can't lose you as well." 

"I don't want to believe it," she says shakily. "But what if she's right?"

"She's alone, and scared, and thinks we abandoned her," the Doctor reasons. "She didn't mean it."

"All these things I've seen, Doctor," Peyton sighs. "Decisions I see you make. Every time you do, I become a little more okay with it. I love travelling with you, but, I don't know if I want to be like you. I don't know if I can."

He breaks, walking around the console to her and engulfs her in his arms. She presses her face into his chest and wraps her arms around his waist as he places a hand on the back of her head, cradling her close.

Peyton chokes back a sob and he begins to run small circles into her scalp with his thumb. "And I won't ever make you like me," he promises, his voice cracking a little. "Who I am is nine hundred years of bad decisions, pain, and loss. I will never let anything harm you. I won't ever allow anyone to destroy you and your beautiful, beautiful soul. Do you understand?"

Peyton nods, sniffing back tears, she moves her head so her ear rests against his chest. She can hear the gentle rhythm of his heartbeats drumming against his rib cage.

"I asked you a while ago if you had children," she whispers. "I think you were lying."

"A long time ago," he concedes, resting his chin on her head.

"I'm sure you were a great father." This was her second option for her response. Initially, she was going to ask what happened to them, but she can already guess that one.

He doesn't respond, as he always does when she strikes a nerve with him. Peyton doesn't mind too much. Maybe one day he'll tell her everything, for real.

"Okay, Doctor, Peyton," Amy's voice sounds through the Tardis systems. Peyton and the Doctor pull away from each other and he takes another second to wipe the tears from under her eyes with his thumbs and places a small kiss on her hairline before dashing off the get a better view of the monitor. "Twostreams is back on air."

Peyton laughs, sniffing back any more tears and joining him on by the railing.

Rory must have convinced Amy to change her mind and help get her younger version back.

She sees the back of Amy's head as Rory follows her, the glasses back on his nose.

"Right, okay, so this is big news, this is temporal earthquake time," she says. "I am now officially changing my own future. Hold onto your spectacles. In my past I saw my future self refuse to help you, I am now changing that future and agreeing. Every law of time says that shouldn't be possible."

"Yes, except sometimes knowing your own future enables you to change it," the Doctor trots down the stairs and onto the lower floor. "Especially if you're bloody-minded, contradictory, and completely unpredictable."

"So, basically, if you're Amy, then," Rory surmises.

"Yes, if anyone could defeat predestiny, it's your wife," the Doctor folds his arms.

Peyton leans forward on her elbows against the railing, smiling at the thought of having Amy back, finally.

"It's not about what I'm doing," she turns to Rory. "But who I'm doing it for. I'm trusting you to watch my back, Rory."

"Always. You and me, always," Rory promises.

"Cause here's the deal. You take me too, in the Tardis," she says. "Me too."

"But that means that there'll be two of you, permanently, forever," Rory hesitates.

Peyton spots the Doctor's head shaking slightly. The Tardis even makes a noise of discontent.

"And that way we both get to live," she says.

"Two Amys together," Rory turns away, giving the Time Lords a view of the carpet. "Can that work?"

"I don't know, it's your marriage," the Doctor shrugs.

"Doctor!" He grouses.

"Perhaps," the Doctor falters, turning to walk back up and around the console. "Maybe, if I shunted the reality compensators on the Tardis, re-calibrated the doomsday bumpers and jettisoned the karaoke bar, yes, maybe, yes. It could do it. The Tardis could sustain the paradox."

"Right," Rory nods.

Peyton looks to the Doctor and she manages to catch his eye. He's lying, she can tell. What's more, is that she can tell that _he_ can tell, she can tell.

He gives her a warning look as she opens her mouth to say something so she bites her tongue. 

"Right," Rory says. "Amy, and Amy. The wife and the wife, right."

"Okay, Amy, Past Amy, stand by the door. future Amy, you too," the Doctor instructs. "Future Amy, can I borrow your sonic scr- prob?"

"It's a screwdriver!" She chuckles.

"Rory, sonic it, double our power. Amy Now, you're our link to Amy Then. We need to get a signal, and that signal will be a thought. Amy Now and Amy Then share a thought. Something so powerful that is can rip through time. Rory, sonic the plinth front and inside you'll find three levers. And a jumble of wiring. That's the regulator valve. After we've rebooted you'll have ten minutes to get back to the Tardis."

• • •

Two Amys. Right before her eyes, or right before Rory's eyes rather.

"Hello," the older Amy says awkwardly.

"Hello," their Amy replies. "I don't know what to..."

"Okay, this is weird," they both say at the same time. "Right, just stop doing that."

"How about, Amy One speaks first," Rory suggests.

"Which one's Amy One?" They both ask.

"Well..."

"I am," they chorus. "No, I am! Rory, tell her to stop doing that."

Peyton's lip twitches into a smile as she lets out a small chuckle. Amy meets Amy.

"Ah!" Rory gasps as the picture goes staticky.

"Rory, Rory, take the glasses off," the Doctor warns. "You're getting Temporal feedback."

Behind them, the console sparks loudly, causing Peyton to leap out of its way as a cloud as light and smoke burst from the control.

"Woah, woah," the Doctor grabs her, arriving up by the console. "Calm down, dear."

He picks up his coat from where it hangs over the tail and fans the smoke away. Peyton follows suit, shrugging off her bomber to bat away the smell of burning.

"What's happening, Doctor?" Peyton asks.

"We've created a massive paradox and the Tardis hates it," the Doctor explains, throwing his coat away to turn some knobs and push a lever. "She's self-phasing, trying time get out of here, Peyton, turn that dial down to one and push the three red buttons below it."

She drops her jacket immediately to get her hands on the controls. She follows his orders as the Tardis continues to groan and whir angrily.

"What's the nasty Amy done to you?" The Doctor coos at his machine. "Just calm down, dear. Hang on in there. Peyton, turn on the stabilisers."

Peyton rushes to the other side of the console, a rush of thrill running through her. Piloting the Tardis with the Doctor. Maybe one day she could fly through the vortex just by herself. Next time they're not in a life or death situation, she must remind him to pick up her teaching again.

"Rory, you've got eight minutes left. I'm so sorry, you're on your own now."

And with that, the picture on all of the screens goes dark. The Tardis quiets finally, causing both Time Lords to exhale loudly in relief.

"You alright?" The Doctors asks.

"Are you asking me or the Tardis?" Peyton kids.

"How're you feeling?" He smiles.

"I feel like you need to give me more lessons on how to fly this thing."

"I'll put it on the list."

Two or so minutes go by. Her knee bounces anxiously as she sits on the brown chair by the console, just waiting in silence, the Doctor can't even get the outer camera feed working so they'll have no idea when they're close.

That is until the Tardis doors are kicked open.

Peyton turns to see Rory cradling an unconscious Amy in his arms, the younger Amy.

She and the Doctor both run down, not before the Doctor grabs his coat. Rory lowers Amy gently to the ground and the Doctor lays the coat over her. He places a hand in front of her nose and another on her pulse.

"Ah, it's just an anaesthetic. She'll be fine," the Doctor diagnoses.

He jumps to his feet and sprints to the doors. He falters for a moment and Peyton looks past him.

The older version of Amy stands across the room.

Peyton knows what he has to do, or maybe it's what he thinks he has to do.

The big decisions. These are the moments she wonders if she'll ever be like him, or even whether she wants to.

Amy breaks out into a run.

"I'm sorry," he says, slamming the door in her face.

• • •

Peyton sits shoulder to shoulder between the Doctor and Rory on the second step of the stairs leading up and into the Tardis corridors. They had all carried Amy up to the chair by the console, deciding it was comfier than the concrete floor by the Tardis doors. The Doctor's coat still covers her pale body as she sleeps.

"Did you always know it would never work?" Rory asks. "Saving both Amys?"

"I promised you I'd save her and there she is," the Doctor replies. "Safe."

"That wasn't the question," Peyton chides. She just wants the Doctor to admit it, that's all.

The Doctor gets to his feet and walks away, today evidently not the day for admitting mistakes. He heads down the stairs and into the Tardis, leaving Rory and herself to watch over Amy.

She stirs with a quiet groan. The Doctor spins back around as Peyton and Rory get to their feet to check on her.

As she opens her eyes and turns her head to the side, Peyton spots the Doctor poke his tongue out at her. She laughs.

"I'll guess I'll leave you two alone," he nods with a gesture for Peyton to follow.

She quickly trots down the stairs behind him to catch up as he strolls down the corridor, hands tucked into the pockets of his trousers.

"I'm sorry," he apologises. "Not every time I make a decision I am comfortable with it. What has to be done has to be done. You understand that, right? I try and take the route that causes the least pain. Their human lives are fragile, I don't want to take them before their time."

"Whatever you say, Doctor," Peyton nods, not entirely convinced. 


	26. The Day Peyton Steps Up

"'Let's go to Raven-Skala,' he says," Amy sighs, leaning over the banister beside Peyton and looking down into the spiral of the staircase.

"The people are six hundred feet tall, you have to talk to them in hot air balloons," the blonde-haired girl adds with her own sarcastic tone.

"'And the tourist information centre is made of one of their hats,' he says," Rory supplies.

"I don't see any huge hats," Amy shrugs, watching the Doctor as he runs past them down the stairs.

"Ponds, Peyton," the Doctor smiles. "This could be the most exciting thing I have ever seen."

"You're kidding," Rory frowns. A fair statement. They find themselves in an old hotel, circa seventies or eighties, they hadn't even left earth!

"How can you be excited about a rubbish hotel on a rubbish bit of Earth?" Peyton asks as the Doctor sprints back up the stairs to stand in front of the three of them.

"Because, Ponds and Peyton, this is not Earth," he answers breathlessly, patting the balustrade. "This has just been made to look like Earth. The craftsmanship involved... can you imagine?"

"What? Then where are we?" Amy asks, deciding to head back down to the landing where the Tardis had parked itself, Peyton and Rory follow behind.

"I don't know, something must have yanked us off course," the Doctor hypothesises, the sound of quick footsteps suggesting he too was following, he gets distracted and runs in front of them. "Look at the detail on that cheese plant!"

"Right, but who would muck up an Earth hotel?" Rory asks.

"Colonists maybe, recreating a bit of home, like when ex-pats open English pubs in Majorca," he says, before taking a bit of an apple he somehow acquired in the second Peyton wasn't watching him. "No, whoever did this, I am shaking his, stroke, her hand, stroke, tentacle."

"Have you seen these?" Rory calls their attention. Peyton turns from the Doctor to see him peering at the portraits on the walls, she hadn't thought much of them. She walks to stand beside Rory and studies a portrait of a Sontaran, grumpy as always. "Look at the labels underneath."

"Commander Halke, defeat," Peyton reads. A name, and a word, odd.

"Tim Heath, having his photo taken," Rory reads another. "Lady Silver-Tear, Daleks."

"Paige Barnes, other people's socks," Amy walks along the wall. "Tim Nelson, Balloons."

"Novice Prin, Saberwolves," Peyton raises an eyebrow at an image of a Catkind. "Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth. Lucy Hayward, that brutal Gorilla. Doctor, what does it mean?"

"I don't know," he says. It sounds strange, those words coming from his mouth. "But not knowing is interesting, it's new. Not often do I get to say those words. But, creepy hotel, odd pictures, forbidding messages. Hey, if you're up for it, Peyton, you think you'd like to take up my offer?"

The sides of her lips twitch upwards. "Really? If you think I can."

"What are you guys talking about?" Rory steps forward with a wary glance between his two strangest friends.

"Peyton here has just been temporarily promoted to co-Doctor," the Doctor smiles, tapping her on the top her head.

"Still got no idea," Amy closes her eyes as she shakes her head. "Huh?"

"Peyton's half Time Lord," the Doctor explains. "She's got great instincts, keen senses and is not half bad under pressure. So if the situation goes hairy, I need you two to do whatever Peyton asks of you as if it were me asking you. If she says run, you run, if she says let's go to the gift shop, you go to the gift shop."

"So you've actually adopted her now," Amy smiles making doey eyes between her best friend and the Doctor.

"No, no, no," Peyton shakes her head, a blush of embarrassment rushing to her cheeks. "I've got a perfectly good Dad, he's back home in Leadworth right now." She sees the Doctor smile out of the corner of her eye as she says that. "I'm just, his, uh..."

"Protegé!" The Doctor nods, swinging an arm around her shoulders. "She's my protegé. So, are you both clear?"

"I'll give it a go," Rory shrugs optimistically. Peyton gives him a thankful smile.

"It's not like she hasn't been trying to boss us around our whole lives," Amy jokes.

"If anyone was bossing us around-"

"So," the Doctor claps, cutting off her rebuttal. "Let's find out what's going on."

• • •

They find the reception just one flight of stairs down from where they landed. It's empty, not a soul in sight. Peyton walks up to the counter and leans over it, peering behind it to see if the desk will yield any clues, perhaps about where everyone is.

"Do you reckon it's abandoned?" Rory asks.

"It's creepy, where is everyone?" Amy adds.

Peyton watches the Doctor run a hand along the counter until he reaches a silver bell, one of the only items in the room actually, beside a few pens and small knick-knacks on the desk.

He gives her a sly smile and a wink before slamming his hand down onto the bell.

A great shout, like a war cry, startles the travellers as three figures emerge from the hallway, brandishing makeshift weapons.

"Blimey," the Doctor says, raising his hands. "That was quick."

"We surrender," one of the figures yelps.

"No, it's okay, we're not... We're nice!" Rory shouts.

"She threatened me with a chair leg!" The Doctor cries, pointing accusingly at a woman. Peyton notices her clothes, a nurse's uniform. She looks human.

"Who are you?" She demands.

"Oh God, we're back in reception," the boy next to her, holding a wooden bedpost, says. He barely looks out of his teens. A curly mess of black hair sits on his head and thick glasses frame his face, giving him a stereotypical 'nerd' look.

"We surrender!" The third figure repeats, now waving a small white handkerchief. Now, he's not human, the other two are. Strange.

"I've never been threatened with a chair leg before!" The Doctor exclaims. "No, hang on, I tell a lie."

"Did you just say, 'it's okay, we're nice'?" Amy questions her husband.

"Not the most pressing issue," Peyton reminds Amy.

"Okay, I need everyone to shut up now!" The woman shouts.

"Rita, be careful, yeah?" The boy says.

"Their pupils are dilated," she says, stepping closer to Peyton and the Doctor, before moving back and placing a hand on the boy's arm. "They're as surprised as we are. Besides which, if it's a trick, it'll tell us something."

"Oh, you're good," the Doctor lowers his hands. "Oh, she's good. Amy, with regret, you're fired."

"What?" Amy glares.

"I'm kidding," the Doctor retreats but mouths 'We'll talk' at Rita, that's what the boy called her. "I take it from the pathological compulsion to surrender, you're from Tivoli."

"Yes," the non-human nods. "The most invades planet in the galaxy. Our anthem is called 'Glory to Insert Name Here' ."

"You with the face, Howie," the Doctor says, he must have picked up his name from one of the others during all the yelling. "You said you were surprised to be back in reception."

"The walls move, everything changes."

"You, clever one, what's he talking about?" The Doctor turns to look about the room some more.

"The corridors twist and stretch," she explains. "Rooms vanish and pop up somewhere else. It's like the hotel's alive."

"That's quite enough of that," the Doctor says, flicking the radio in the corner off. Peyton had barely heard it. It was just playing old elevator music.

"It's huge, with, like, no way out," Howie continues.

"Have you tried the front door?" Peyton asks, pointing toward the doors on the wall opposite the reception desk as she watches the Doctor inspect a security camera in the corner.

"No, in two days it never occurred to us to try the front door," Rita says sarcastically. "Thank God you're here."

Amy laughs and Peyton shoots her a look, trying to convey 'not-helping!'.

"They're not doors," the Doctor announces, throwing them open after scanning them with his sonic. "They're walls, walls that look like doors. Door-walls, if you like, or dwalls, woors even, though you'd probably got it when you said, 'they're not doors'. I mean, the windows are," he runs over to a window and throws open the curtain to reveal more wall. "Right, big day if you're a fan of walls."

"It's not just that," Rita says. "The rooms have... things in them."

"Things? What kind of things?" Peyton asks.

"Interesting things?" The Doctor adds. "I love things, ask anyone."

"Bad dreams."

"Well, that killed the mood," the Doctor murmurs, earning a glare from Peyton.

"How did you get here?" Peyton addresses the strangers, remembering and reciting what she's seen the Doctor do a million times.

"I don't know, I'd just started my shift," Rita explains. "I must have passed out, because suddenly I was here".

"I was, uh, blogging, next thing, this," Howie says meekly.

"Oh, I was at work, I'm in town planning. We're lining all the highways with trees, so invading forces can march in the shade. Which is nice for them," he says

Peyton frowns at the Doctor who is nodding along and smiling.

"So what have we got, Peyton?" He turns to her, his face serious. "People being snatched from their lives and dropped into an endless, shifting maze that looks like a 1980s hotel with bad dreams in the bedrooms. Any theories?" He grabs a Rubix cube from the desk and tosses it up in the air.

"Uh, next to nothing," Peyton splutters. "A long-range teleport, clearly. We should go back to the Tardis, and check for anything ominous and-or wants to kill us."

The Doctor points finger guns at her and smiles proudly.

"Come on, Ponds," he says. "You heard the boss."

Peyton leads the Doctor, Amy and Rory back up the stairs, feeling incredibly giddy. This might actually turn out better than expected.

That is until she almost trips over her own feet on the landing where the Tardis is nowhere to be seen. "Doctor, where's it gone?" She asks worriedly.

The Doctor brushes past her as he runs to the place the box should be. He places his hands like a mime in mid-air, as if seeing if the time machine had turned invisible.

"You parked it there, didn't you?" Amy frowns. As the Doctor bolts up the next flight of stairs but Peyton is certain that this is where they landed.

"What's a Tardis?" Howie asks from the stairwell, Peyton hadn't noticed that the group had followed them.

"Our way out," Rory sighs, rubbing his face. "And it's gone."

"Okay," the Doctor mutters under his breath as he slowly makes his way back to the landing. "This is bad."

"Bad?" Peyton storms over to him just as he steps off the final stair. "Doctor, how bad?"

"I don't know," he looks at Peyton, then to his other companions. "But we're certainly three buses, a long walk and eight quid in a taxi from good."

"Great," Peyton groans, staring off into the distance in disbelief. She sees Amy rubbing Rory's back as he leans over the railing and the three strangers further down the stairs, peering at the lot of them curiously.

"Are there any more of you?" The Doctor asks.

"Joe, but he's tied up right now," Rita nods with a grim smile.

"Doing what?" The Doctor asks.

"No, I mean, he's tied up right now."

• • •

Peyton follows close behind the Doctor as they enter the dining room. To her horror, every seat is filled by identical ventriloquist dolls, all wearing little suits, and they're laughing. More like cackling. All by themselves, they rattle and laugh.

As they walk further into the room, the cackling quiets, and just to freak her out more, every single one of the dummies heads turn, very slowly, to look at the intruders. Some even turn their heads completely backward.

Peyton spots the man who must be Joe easy enough. He sits at a slightly small table, the only one on it, positioned in the centre of the room. Just as Rita said, he is quite literally tied up.

"This is the part where you talk to him," the Doctor whispers in her ear.

"What?" She hisses. "I can't do that, what do I-"

"W.W.T.D.D," he smiles. "What Would The Doctor Do?"

Peyton swallows thickly and gathers as much confidence as she can. She walks forward toward the man who meets her eye, unblinking.

"Hello, you must be Joe. My name's Peyton."

"You're going to die here," he smiles.

Peyton looks back to the Doctor, lost for words and more than a little frightened and off-put. He catches her hint and quickly joins her side. "Well, they certainly didn't mention that in the brochure."

"I'm the Doctor, is Joe there?" The Doctor asks grabbing one of the empty chairs opposite the man and pulling it out for Peyton before sitting into one next to it. "Can I have a quick word?"

"Oh, it's still me, Doctor," Joe says in a dreamy sort of voice. "But I've seen the light. I lived a blasphemous life, but he has forgiven my inconsistency, and soon, he shall feast."

"You've been here for two days," Peyton frowns, remembering the conversation from the way here. "What's he waiting for?" And who is _he_?"

"We weren't ready. We were still raw."

"But now you're what? Cooked?" The Doctor says, hands clasped together on the table.

"If you like. Soon you will be, too. Be patient. First, find your room."

"My room?" The Doctor frowns

"There's a room here for everyone, Doctor, even you."

Peyton decides to put an end to his cryptic nonsense. "You said you'd seen the light now."

"Nothing else matters anymore. Only him. It's like these things," Joe says, looking around at all the dummies. "I used to hate them! They make me laugh now."

He begins to chuckle, a maniacal sort of laugh that makes Peyton deeply uncomfortable.

"Gottle o' geer! Gottle o' geer!" He laughs.

Peyton is taken aback when all the dummies around them begin laughing too, a high pitched guffaw with their heads bobbing up and down by themselves. She looks back and forth at the strange sight and determinedly keeps as straight a face as she can, intent on keeping up a facade of confidence. She couldn't break already.

"You should go," Joe smiles blankly as he and the dummies quiet down. "He'll be here soon."

Peyton sees the Doctor look to her out of the corner of her eye expectantly. She can't just leave him here, especially with this monster on the loose. She quickly scans the room and sees the upright chair trolley against the opposite wall, used for moving stacks of chairs about. Using that she could move him without seeing why the others decided he needed to be tied up.

She nods to the Doctor and in the direction of the trolley. He smiles in understanding before giving her a wink and dashing off to collect it.

He wheels it over quickly and inserts it underneath Joe's chair. "I think you should come with us," he says into Joe's ear.

• • •

They found their way back to reception. The time travellers and Rita lean against the desk while Howie and Gibbis stand behind it with Joe, still tied up. That music the Doctor has shut off last time they were here, it's playing again.

"Why you four?" The Doctor asks, flicking the radio off. "That's what I don't understand, aside from all the other things I don't understand."

"What does it matter?" Gibbis says. "Sooner or later, someone will come along and rescue us. Or enslave us."

"We've got to find the Tardis," Peyton looks down at her clasped hands on the desk and then back up at each of the characters around her. "That might just be the only way we can leave, whatever this place is."

She turns to leave, honestly having no idea where to look in the first place. Amy joins her quickly, wrapping her hand around Peyton's in a show of support which she appreciates.

"Before we go," the Doctor pipes up, stopping Peyton and Amy in their tracks. "If you feel drawn to a particular room, do not go in. And make sure someone else can see you at all times."

"Joe said 'he' will feast," Rita says quietly. "Is there something here with us?"

Joe chuckles animatedly, despite still being tied to the chair, attracting everyone else's attention.

"Something to add, Joe?" The Doctor says as if speaking to a cheeky child.

"Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop of your head," Joe recites. "Chop, chop, chop, chop."

"Can we do something about him?" Howie bursts, just vocalising the discomfort of everyone else in the room.

• • •

Peyton studies the ugly wallpaper as the group walk together through the twisting and winding halls of the not-hotel.

Room after room after room goes by, the numbers printed on them in no particular order. Each hallway the same, sometimes there will be a table with a vase of flowers of every so often but mostly eighties monotony.

"Hey! Don't!" The Doctor cries.

Everyone whips around to see Howie turning the door handle to a room at the back of the group.

Peyton rushes back with him but it's too late, the door falls open revealing a group of teenage girls, laughing and chatting amongst themselves. Peyton and the Doctor share a look, surprised at the complete un-scariness of the room but when she sees Howie's face between them, the horror etched upon it, she understands that this must be his room.

"Oh look, girls," a blonde girl smiles evilly. "It's H- H- H- Howie!"

They all laugh wildly at that. This poor kid.

"What's 'loser' in K- K- K- Klingon?" Another girl cruelly, sending the group into another fit of laughter.

Peyton looks to Howie, about to comfort him. He still stands so still, his face blank, if not paled considerably.

"Shut the- the- the door," he stumbles back finally, stammering heavily. The Doctor is more than happy to oblige, pulling the door shut promptly,

Everyone looks to the scared boy who pulls his jacket sleeves over his hands restlessly. "This is just some messed up C.I.A. stuff, I'm telling you?" He stutters.

"You're right," the Doctor pats him on the back before leading him back to the group. "Keep telling yourself that. It's a C.I.A. thing, nothing more."

The group continues forward, the squeak of the chair trolley every so often breaks up the silence.

"Doctor, what do we do?" Peyton asks quietly, making sure no one else can hear her.

"Don't go in your room," he answers softly

• • •

Onward and onwards they go. Each hall with the same ugly carpet, and the same dated light fixtures, never-ending.

Peyton has been trying to piece together some semblance of a plan. She's got nothing, especially if the Tardis doesn't turn up.

She watches the Doctor reach up and traces his finger along a scar in the ceiling, made by something strong enough to break the plaster. She halts in her tracks, staring up at it. What could have scraped along the quite high ceiling with that much force?

"Uh, look," Amy says. Peyton looks to her and she's holding two pieces of paper but she can't study them for long because a low growl rumbles through the building. "Okay, whatever that is, it's not real, yeah?" She mutters.

"No, no, I'm sure it isn't," the Doctor says unconvincingly, stepping backward slowly. "But just in case, let's run away and hide anyway, in here!"

Amy rips open the door closest to her and everyone around her runs in.

Peyton turns quickly to slam the door but she notices Rory still in the hallway. "Rory, come on!" She yells after him.

He looks at her, as if annoyed for a second before sprinting up and into the room. Peyton shouts the door with a click and turns around.

Angels.

Her breath catches in her throat and eyes widen in horror.

"Don't blink," she instructs, for Rory, Howie, and Gibbis' benefit. She notices that Rita and Joe aren't in the room, they must have chosen another door.

"What?" Howie frowns. The lights begin to flicker and the statues begin to move.

"Get back, all of you," the Doctor instructs. Peyton grabs Howie and Rory's arms and pulls them toward the wall while the Doctor grabs Amy. Still unblinking, Peyton sees Gibbis five into the closet.

A few more seconds pass as Peyton trembles against the wall, staring determinedly at the Weeping Angels but they have stopped moving,

"Why haven't they gotten us yet?" She asks. The Doctor pulls himself off the wall as the lights stop flickering and reaches out to touch them.

"They're not real," he sighs, Peyton lets herself blink before reaching forward to tap on an Angel's stone hand. "They should have got us by now." He turns back to the group. "Amy?"

Peyton looks across to see the redhead, still frozen and unblinking at the monster.

"Amy, look at me, focus on me," the Doctor says, reaching out to grab her shoulders. "It's your bad dream, that's all."

"I don't even think they're for us," Rory says looking over to the trembling alien in the cupboard who screams and shuts the door.

The sound of growling gets closer and soon Peyton can even hear heavy footsteps dragging through the hall.

She watches the Doctor walk toward the door slowly and frowns. "Doctor, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry," he says. "I just have to see what it is, I just have to see."

He leans against the door and lowers his head to peer out the peephole.

"Oh look at you," he whispers, barely audible. "You are beautiful." He leaps back from the door and Peyton steps forward to take a look but he grabs her before she can. "Oh, dear."

Peyton looks down to see the shadow of whatever it is beneath the door. She holds her breath.

The creature moves away from the door slowly and the Doctor moves back to the door tentatively. "I think it's going after Joe."

The sound of a thump further down the hall causes Peyton to wince, then the sound of retreating footsteps gives her the courage to reach for the doorknob and slowly open it.

The Doctor pushes past her, looking out into the hallway. "Leave him alone!"

Peyton jumps out past him and sees a pair of legs being dragged along to floor around the corner and alongside the Doctor, they sprint after it.

Down the corridors. Never-ending corridors. Peyton can't even see the creature or Joe anymore but the Doctor presses onwards and so does she.

She doesn't know how long they're running for, but soon they slow to a jog.

Then out of the corner of her eye, she sees a shape. "Joe?" She calls. She and the Doctor walk towards him slowly, slumped and leaning against the wall. "Joe, are you okay?"

Peyton bends down and reaches for Joe's shoulder but gets no response. She crouches and leans around to see his face.

The man's blank eyes stare at the far wall. Her breath catches and she slowly reaches down for his wrist. As her pale fingers wrap around it, no pulse can be felt in his radial artery.

She drops his arm carefully and drops her head into her hands. This can't be happening. It's all too soon. This is exactly what she was frightened of.

"Peyton, come here," the Doctor says softly. She pushes herself up and stumbles backward until she hits the Doctor's chest, staring down at the man in front of them. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm not okay," she shivers turning to the Doctor and looking up at him.

"Good, you should never be okay when something like this happens," he grabs her and holds her tight. "Do you still feel up to this?"

Peyton pushes herself away and takes another look toward Joe, still frozen in the moment of his death. "Yeah. I can do this."

"No one believes in you more than I do," he places a hand on her cheek, forcing her to look back at him. "I know you can do this. Brilliant Peyton is going to get everyone else out, safe and sound."

• • •

Peyton's sonic pen lights the faces of the dummies with a blue hue and the Doctor pulls a blanket over Joe's face.

They had carried Joe back to the dining hall and collected all the creepy dummies up on one side of the room as they just freaked everyone out.

She looks down to inspect the readings but ends up frowning. No life signs, no animatronics, nothing. How they came to life earlier is mystifying.

Rory and Howie work to barricade to doors at each entrance with tables and chairs while Rita hands tea to Amy and Gibbis by the bar.

"Tea?" Rita says as she approaches Peyton and the Doctor.

"Yes, thanks", Peyton nods, wrapping her hands around the mug Rita extends to her and moving away from the dummies to sit next to the Doctor. Her dad always made her tea when she was scared as a kid. After a nightmare, he'd bring it up to her room and they'd drink it together and eat biscuits. But she's a long way from bad dreams in Leadworth now.

The Doctor takes a mug as well with a grateful nod.

"What exactly happened to him?" She asks.

"He died," the Doctor says simply.

"You are a medical doctor, aren't you? You haven't just got a degree in cheese-making or something."

"No! Well, yes, both, actually." Peyton frowns at him. There is no way he of all people committed to a ten-year-long drawl through medical school. She's seen this man get angry because they had to wait thirty minutes for the bus. "I mean, there is no cause; all his vital organs simply stopped, as if the simple spark of life, his loves his hates, his faiths and fears were just taken, and, this is a cup of tea."

He says that last part suddenly and after a sudden sniff.

"Of course, I'm British, it's how we cope with trauma. That and tutting."

"But how did you make it?" The Doctor smiles.

"All hotels should have a well-stocked kitchen, even alien fake ones. I heard you talking when you arrived. Look, it's no more ridiculous than Howie's C.I.A. theory, or mine."

"Which is?" Peyton asks, hoping that it might spark some truth.

"This is Jahannam."

"You're a Muslim!" The Doctors smiles.

"Don't be frightened," she grimaces.

Peyton looks down into her mug, upset that she even has to think that of people.

The Doctor laughs. "You think this is hell?"

She nods. "The whole eighties hotel thing took me by surprise, though."

"And all these fears and phobias wandering about are mostly completely unconnected to us, so why are they still here?"

"Maybe the cleaners have gone on strike?" Peyton shrugs.

"I like her," the Doctor smiles at Peyton and then back to Rita. "You're a right clever clogs. But this isn't Hell, Rita."

"You don't understand," she shakes her head. "I say that without fear. Jahannam will play its tricks, and there'll be times when I want to run and scream. But I've tried to live a good life and that knowledge keeps me sane, despite the monsters and the bonkers rooms."

The Doctor gargles his tea and Peyton hits him, definitely not the time to be childish.

"Gibbis," Rita pauses. "Is an alien, isn't he?"

"Yeah, sorry," Peyton nods.

"Okay, I'm going to file that under 'freak out about later'."

"Doctor, look at this," Amy calls.

"Peyton," he says with a smile. "Take a look at what Amy has got."

"I could hear her, you know," Peyton places her cup of tea down before jumping off the stage to meet her.

"I found it in a corridor, I completely forgot I had it," Amy continues as Peyton arrived by her side.

She shows her two small pieces of paper, as if torn from a notebook. Peyton takes them gingerly. They're scrawled with blue handwriting.

Amy sits back down next to her husband and the Doctor appears at Peyton's side, peering over her shoulder.

"My name is Lucy Hayward and I'm the last one left," she reads. "It took Luke first. It got him on his first day, almost as soon as we arrived. It's funny. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realise it could never have been anything else. I just saw mine. It was a gorilla from a book I'd read as a kid. My God, that thing used to terrify me. The gaps between my worship are getting shorter, like contractions. This is what happened to the others and how lucky they were. It's all so clear now. I'm so happy. Praise him."

"Praise him," Howie blurts.

"What did you just say?" The Doctor frowns, plucking the paper from Peyton's hands to get his own look.

"Nothing," Howie shakes his head. He suddenly looks as if he's going to be sick but instead of bile, it's words that erupt from his lips. "Praise him!"

"This is what happened to Joe!" Gibbis leaps up from his seat opposite the boy.

"God, it's going to come for me now," Howie panics, getting up from his chair.

"You'll lead it right here!" Gibbis yells.

The room erupts into a chaotic overlay of voices yelling. Peyton rushes forward to comfort him. God, he's just a child. He doesn't deserve this.

"It's okay," she says, holding up her hands. "I promise I'll keep you safe."

"I don't want to get eaten!" Howie stammers, his stutter coming back.

"Calm down, it's going to be okay," Peyton frets. "Nothings going to get you."

The noise in the room gets too loud, Howie can't even hear Peyton standing right next to her. The blonde scowls and spins around to the others, she rips her sonic pen from her pocket and points it at the ceiling, setting it to emit a sonic output, harmless to the electronics around them, less harmless to everyone's ears.

Everyone in the room groans and covers their ears, including Peyton, whose free hand comes up to the side of her head.

"Thank you," she groans, letting the signal go dead before patting Howie on the shoulder who smiles thankfully.

"Don't you see? You'll lead it right here!" Gibbis squeaks.

"What do you suggest?" Rita glares up at him.

"Look, whatever it is out there, it's obviously chosen Howard as it's next course. Now, as tragic though that is, this is no time for sentiment. I'm saying, if it were to find him, it may be satisfied and let the rest of us go."

Everyone glares at the Tivolian who whines before continuing. "Oh, all I want to do is go home and be conquered and oppressed, is that too much to ask?"

"It's okay, I'll stay with Howie," Rita offers. "You take the others and go."

"No, we stay together," Peyton shakes her head, her hearts increasing in pace. She looks to the Doctor for approval who makes a sign for her to go on. "We stay together and no one goes in any more rooms."

Everyone seems to be satisfied with that. Peyton feels massively relieved. She watches the Doctor head straight for Gibbis so Peyton takes Howie by the arm and leads him to sit back down in a chair.

"Thank you," he mutters.

"No problem," Peyton shakes her head. "Nothings going to get you while the Doctor and I are here, got it?"

"I'm scared," he admits, voice quavering.

"Hey, I'm scared too," Peyton sighs, placing a hand atop his and sitting in the seat next to him. "I'm terrified. But we are going to get through this, together. Got it?"

He nods.

"Howie," the Doctor calls, heading to the table where his apprentice and the boy sit. He leans his arms on the table, looking at the two of them. "Any second now, it's going to possess you again. When it does, I'm going to ask you some questions. Please try to answer them."

He pulls out a chair opposite Howie and everyone in the room moves to sit around them. Peyton smiles as Rita takes the seat next to her.

"I hope my mum's all right," Howie murmurs. "She's going to be worried."

He looks around wildly for a second before his eyes seem to glaze over. He begins to smirk around at the others and Peyton knows that the sweet kid she was just talking to is gone.

"Howie, you're next, we're all dead jealous, so tell us, how do we get a piece of the action?" The Doctor asks. "Why isn't he possessing all of us?"

"Because you guys have got all these distractions," Howie points at all of them before tapping his temple. "All these obstacles. It's be so much easier if you just let it go, you know, clear the path."

"You want it to find you?" Peyton raises an eyebrow. "Even though you know what it's going to do?"

"Are you kidding?" He turns to her. "He's going to kill us all, how cool is that?"

With a nod from the Doctor, everyone at the table gets up and walks a few meters away with him.

"Peyton, theories?" He asks.

With everyone's eyes on her, she stammers. "Um, it's fear. Everyone's fears. Once someone sees their fears, somehow they lose their minds, letting whatever this is in."

"It feeds on fear," the Doctor adds. "Everything, the rooms, Lucy's note, even the pictures in reception have been put here to frighten us. So we have to resist it. Do whatever you have to, cross your fingers, say a prayer, think of a basket of kittens, but do not give into the fear."

"Okay, but what are we actually going to do?"

"We're going to catch ourselves a monster."

• • •

"Nothing personal," the Doctor says to the monster in the Dark of the bathroom.

Peyton was rather proud of herself. The Doctor asked her to come up with a way of trapping the beast and she, with a notable suggestion from Rory, concocted the trap.

Howie's mic has been cut off and now silence except for the running water of the water feature permeates in the room.

"I just think we should take things slowly. Get to know each other."

The mirrors were Rory's idea. Sending the image of Peyton and the Doctor scattered through the room, so the thing wouldn't know where they really are.

"You take people's most primal fears and pop it into a room. A tailor-made hell, just for them. Why?"

The creature growls.

"Did you just say 'they' take?" The Doctor frowns.

The beast growls again, pacing around like an animal trapped in a cage.

"What is that word," the Doctor groans. "The guard? No, the warden?"

"This is a prison?" Peyton shudders.

"So what are we? Cellmates? Lunch?"

The creature roars.

"We are not ripe?" The Doctor steps forward, into the light where the creature can see him, not just a reflection. Peyton gathers up some courage and steps out behind him as well. "This is what Joe said. That we weren't ready."

"So what?" Peyton asks. "You make us ready? You what?"

"Replace?" The Doctor translates after another low growl. "Replace what? Fear? You have lived so long, even your name is lost. You want this to stop."

Peyton stares transfixed on the creature through the glass and water. It's trapped here, like them.

"Because you are... just... instinct," the Doctor sighs. "Then tell me. Tell us how to fight you!"

"My master, my lord. I'm here!" Howie's voices echoes off the walls of the bathroom. How. Can he be here? He should be tied up in reception.

"No, no, no, no!" The Doctor screams as the beast lashes out, pulling Peyton away as it smashes the glass in front of them. "Rory, watch out!"

The doors open behind them and Amy and Rita burst in.

"Stay back," Peyton warns.

"Pond, bring the fish," the Doctor yells.

Peyton doesn't have time to question him as she can hear the sound of the beast's footsteps move further away from Rory's side of the bathroom. She leaps over the shattered glass and toward his post where she seems him lying on the floor amongst the glass from the door.

"You okay," Peyton crouches down to Rory, placing a hand on his neck.

"Somebody hit me," he groans. "Was it Amy?"

Peyton laughs, helping him sit up then get to his feet as the Doctor sprints past them.

With a regretful look at Rory, she pats him on the cheek before racing after the Doctor.

• • •

In the reception, Peyton's arms are wrapped around her waist as she stares at the newest portrait on the wall.

Howie smiles up at her in the image, wearing the same white shirt and patterned tie as the rest of them.

She promised him he'd be safe. She told him nothing would hurt him.

The sound of soft footsteps snaps her out of her thoughts and she wipes her nose on her sleeve before looking up and seeing Rory walking toward her.

"Have you found your room yet?" She asks quietly.

"No, no," he shakes his head. "Do you think that's good or bad?"

"I've known you for fifteen years, you might just be the bravest person I know. Maybe you just aren't scared of anything," she smiles sadly.

"After all this time we've spent in the Tardis with the Doctor, what was left to be scared of," he shrugs. "But if anyone's not scared of anything, it's you, P."

Peyton chuckles lowly at that. She's had some time to think about whether she has a room herself. Daleks, she thinks to herself. If anything haunts her dreams it's them.

"Howie had been in speech therapy," Rory says, noticing that Peyton hadn't replied but not wanting to press it. "He'd just got over this massive stammer. What an achievement, I mean, can you imagine?"

"I'd forgotten, not all victories are about saving the universe," Peyton muses softly.

"Where's the Doctor?" Rory asks.

"In the dining hall. You go, I'll be there in a minute," Peyton sighs.

Rory pats her on the shoulder before walking off down the corridor. She watches him go before turning back to Howie's portrait one more time.

"I'm sorry," she murmurs.

She shoves her hands in her pockets and walking down the hallways. There's no point in focusing on the route the hotel constantly changes so who's to say how to get there.

As she walks through the halls, suddenly, she gets a shiver up her spine, halting her to the spot.

Her head turns to the right slowly. A door, the number plate reads '8'.

Like a magnet, her every impulse is to enter. The hairs on her arms stand up on end and she can hear her pulse in her head.

She shouldn't. She can't. If she sees what's inside, she'll be next.

But she's different to the others, she's part Time Lord, she's stronger. She just won't let him into her head. Yes, that's it. And even then, the Doctor will get them out of this before she is in any real trouble, he always does.

Her fingertips reach for the gold doorknob. Every muscle in her body is drawn to it. She takes a thick gulp of air as she grasps it in her hand. With a simple movement of her wrist, the door mechanism opens but she doesn't push just yet.

Like a bandaid, she can take it.

Peyton lets the door fall open and frowns. There's nothing. She sticks her head in and peers around. It looks like every other room, but void of any personal demon.

Against her better judgement, she steps inside the room, taking in the drab decor as she lets herself be enveloped by the yellow light emanating from the ceiling.

Once fully inside the door slams behind her. She jumps and turns around, scarpering backward to the far wall when she sees a blond man leaning against it, looking down at the floor.

"Hello, Peyton, I'm glad we could finally meet," the man looks up at her, something dark twinkling in his eye.

"Who are you?" Peyton whimpers.

"You don't know who I am?" The man laughs, swaggering toward her. Peyton tries taking another step backward but alas her back is already pressed up against the fake window. "Now me, I wouldn't have chosen the name _Peyton_. My daughter should have a name fit for a Gallifreyan Noble."

Peyton can't breathe. Her hands ball up in the dark curtains behind her. The man's eyes bore into her and she realises that the Doctor was never lying when he told her that she had her father's eyes.

"Now, dear, is that any way to greet your old, papa?" He sneers, opening his arms as if expecting a hug.

"You're... you're," Peyton stammers. "Him, you're him."

The Master smiles evilly. "Glad you recognise me, but It's curious, it's like looking in a mirror..." he trails off before reaching out to touch her face.

Peyton bats his hand away quickly but her wrist is swiftly held in a painful grip and pinned to the wall beside her head

"That wasn't very nice," he quips. "Do they not teach their children any respect on Earth?"

Peyton doesn't answer. She wants to stare him down. At almost the same height, she could glare into his eyes defiantly but she can't find the strength to. In a mirror beside the closet on the other side of the room, she can see herself, wide-eyed and trembling, like prey beneath its predator.

"That horrible _Doctor_ ," he snarls. "Putting so much pressure on you to be him, hey, having you run around pretending to be him. All these people dying, that means it's _your_ fault."

"No," she manages, bottom lip trembling. She wants to cry out for the Doctor, but would he even hear her?

"Oh, yes," he chuckles, leaning in closer. "I can get rid of him for you, we can do it together."

"Get off me!" She cries, trying to push back against him. He growls, before throwing her backwards into the middle of the room where she stumbles until the back of her legs hit the bed, causing her to topple back into it.

The Master laughs at her as she scampers back to the headboard, curling up in a ball.

"You and me, Peyton!" He laughs, stalking toward the bed end where he stares down at her wildly. "Together we can see the universe now to us, you by my side as my princess, just us above all of the other prattling scum!"

"No!" Peyton screams. Where's the Doctor. He will save her. The Doctor always saves her.

"Can't you hear it, too?" He roars over her. "The drumming, the constant drumming! If it's in my head, it must be in yours! Can you not hear the drums?!"

He brings his hands down on the mattress and smacks it in a beat of four. Four hits, over and over again.

Peyton finally snaps and gains the strength to push herself off the bed and to the door. She rips it open before slamming it on her room without looking back, safely in the corridor.

She bolts, as fast as her legs can carry her. Through the winding corridors she barely breaks a sweat. Her hearts pounding against her ribs as if they're about to explode.

She finds herself back in the reception and she spots an open door, it doesn't have a number on it but can see the back of the Doctor's tweed coat inside.

She races inside, panting as she stops suddenly.

The Doctor whips around immediately and helps her stand straighter. "Peyton, what's wrong." He asks. "You saw your room, didn't you."

Before Peyton can respond, she sees the wall of monitors and the black and white security images playing on them. She spots movement, a person wandering through the halls.

"Doctor, is that?" She points.

He rushes back to the desk and sees what she's pointing at.

Together, they watch Rita wander around the corridors.

"Rita, where are you going?" The Doctor mumbles.

"It's there a P.A.?" Peyton wonders. "Can we talk to her?"

"Brilliant," the Doctor looks down and grabs the phone from the desk, and punches in a three-digit number, one from a door Rita just walked past. "Come on, come on, come on."

They see Rita pause as the Doctor holds the phone to his face. The woman looks up into the security camera at the end of the hall, as if knowing who's calling.

Rita pulls open the door and walks inside.

"Rita, where are you going?" The Doctor asks, the phone seemingly connecting. "Can you take the phone into the corridor? Will it reach?"

Rita emerges back onto the screen, holding a phone and receiver in her hands.

"You started to praise it, didn't you?" The Doctor whispers.

Rita nods with a small smile. Peyton's heart drops. Not another. She has to find her.

"Rita, come back. Please," the Doctor reasons. "We'll find a way to stop it, we swear to you."

Rita crouches down and begins to speak, Peyton can't hear though, she moves closer to the monitors but still can't hear much.

"No, no, no, you don't," the Doctor argues to whatever she said. "The creature only wants whoever's praising it. Peyton's coming to get you. Block out the fear and stay focused on your belief."

Peyton nods, turning to leave but as soon as she's halfway out the door, the Doctor grabs her sleeve, halting her while still transfixed on the screen.

She pulls away from him and into the corridor by the reception. She doesn't go anywhere though. She knows that the hotel will keep them apart anyway. There's no point in getting lost again, especially since she's seen her room. Her father, she can't believe she'd never seen a picture of him. What he said rings in her ears. The drums. Why was he going on about drums?

"Peyton!"

She hears Amy's voice call out to her from down the hallway. Peyton looks to see her and Rory jogging toward her.

"Is the Doctor in there?" Amy asks. Peyton nods and heads inside the room behind her. Just as Rory's about to follow her, he stops and studies Peyton's face.

"What was it?" Rory places a hand on Peyton's shoulder. "If you want to tell me."

Of course he knows, kind, thoughtful Rory. "The Daleks," Peyton lies.

"Oh," he nods. "We won't let it take you, you know. _I_ won't let it take you."

Peyton smiles up at him. "I'm supposed to be the one saving you all today, I guess I'm pretty rubbish at this."

"I haven't died yet," Rory shrugs. "That's an achievement for me."

Peyton turns and leans into the room but the monitors have all gone dark.

• • •

Amy and Rory sit next to each other in a booth in the dining hall, silent. Peyton sits opposite them, back to the Doctor who smashes another vase in frustration.

Gibbis sits at the next booth over, he hasn't spoken in a long time.

Peyton sees out of the corner of her eye, the Doctor throwing himself into the next booth along from Gibbis and pausing for a moment.

"Okay," he says finally, his tone downtrodden and almost in defeat. "It preys on people's fear and possesses them. But Rita wasn't afraid, she was brave and calm. Maybe it's something to do with the people, some connection between the four of you that'll tell me how to fight it."

"Yes, you two keep saying that, but you never do," Gibbis shoots a look to the Doctor and then to Peyton. "And while we wait, people keep dying. And we'll be next!"

That didn't make Peyton feel any better. She slouches even further into her chair.

"Look, they'll work it out," Amy says, placing a hand over Peyton's across the table. "He always does. Just let him riff and move anything expensive out of the way."

Joe, Howie, Rita, Gibbis. Like the Doctor said, what do they have in common? Gibbis makes Earth out of the question. Rita was religious. Howie believed... belief. What's the opposite of fear? Faith.

"It's not fear," Peyton realises, running her hands through her hair "It's faith. Not just religious faith, faith in something." She gets to her feet. "For Howie it was conspiracies, that people were controlling everything. Rita was Muslim, she believed this was hell. Joe had the horseshoe on his tie, and those dice cuff links, he believed in luck. Gibbis here has faith someone is going to come along to oppress him and tell him what to do. The four of them believe something was guiding them, something would save them."

"That's what it replaces," the Doctor leaps up. "Peyton, you are sensational."

"Every time someone went in a room? Faced with their most primal fear, we- they fell back on their most fundamental faith."

"All this time I have been telling you to dig deep," the Doctor slumps into a barstool. "Find the thing that keeps you brave. I made you expose your faith. Show them what they needed."

"But why us?" Rory asks. "Why are we here?"

"It doesn't want you," the Doctor says. "That's why it kept showing you a way out. You're not religious or superstitious, so there's no faith for you to fall back on."

"But Amy and I don't have any beliefs either," Peyton reasons. "Why did it not show us a way out."

"Oh, Peyton," he walks up to her, cupping her face gently. "It wants you both."

Peyton takes a quick breath, stepping away from the Doctor, quite confused. He looks at her with a pitying expression.

Amy storms out of her seat and into a barstool next to where Peyton and the Doctor are standing. They too sit either side of her.

"Why?" Amy whispers.

"Your faith in me. That's what brought us here."

"But why do they lose their faith, before they die?" Rory interrupts. "And start time worshipping 'it'?"

"It needs to convert the faith into a form 'it' can consume," Peyton says flatly, staring at the wall ahead.

"Faith is an energy," the Doctor elaborates. "The specific emotional energy the creature needs to live. Which is why at the end of her note, Lucy said-"

"Praise him," Amy finishes his sentence.

"Exactly," the Doctor nods.

It takes her a second, but Peyton turns her head to look at Amy who has started gently rocking back and forth staring into her lap.

"No," Rory gets to his feet. "Oh, please, no."

Peyton jumps out of her seat at the same time Amy does.

"Aimes, stop it," Peyton pleads. "Don't..."

She trails of her head feeling a little fuzzy.

She blinks it back, feeling alright again she looks up at everyone who stares at her, horrified as well.

"Doctor," Peyton chokes. She expects a burst of praise to tumble from her lips but it never does. Maybe it is only after one victim at a time. But that means if they can't save Amy, she's next.

No one makes a sound as thudding footsteps reverberate through the air. Louder and louder, closer and closer.

• • •

Everyone piles into a room. While running, Peyton noticed she wasn't as keen to stop as much as Amy was. It was a struggle to keep Amy moving through the maze as they ran from the Minotaur. 

Everyone in the room freezes when they see the boggart that inhabits it.

Tiny Amelia Pond sits upon her suitcase, looking out the window and up at the stars.

Rory barricades the door dutifully as the small girl turns her head and looks up at the intruders but seems not to care too much as she resumes gazing out into the sky.

"Doctor, it's happening. It's changing me, it's changing my thoughts," Amy grimaces, crouching down to the floor.

"I can't save you from this, there's nothing I can do to stop it," the Doctor sighs dropping to her level.

"What?" Peyton drops with him. "Doctor, no. There has to be something you can do, something we can do."

"I stole your childhood and now I've led you by the hand to your death, Amy. And Peyton, I've done the same to you. But the worst thing is, I knew: I knew this would happen. This is always what happens."

Peyton watches the door fall open and the shape of the Minotaur steps inside.

"Forget your faith in me. I took you both with me because I was vain, because I wanted to be adored, I thought I could change Peyton to be exactly who I wanted. Look at you two now. The girls who waited for me. I'm not a hero. I really am just a mad man in a box. And it's time we saw each other as we really are. Amy Williams. Peyton Saxon."

He presses a kiss to both their foreheads in turn. Peyton looks up into this man's eyes and could see that every word he said is true.

A tear makes its way down Peyton's pale face. She doesn't even notice the Doctor get up to leave.

She does notice however when the floor starts to fold away into darkness. She stares at it curiously as she's not falling, still definitely standing on something solid. She and Amy rise slowly and look each other in the eye.

They embrace slowly, burying their faces into each other's shoulders.

As the walls of the room fade away, Peyton looks around and sees the Doctor kneeling beside the Minotaur some ways off.

"What is it?" Amy asks, wiping her eyes quickly. "A Minotaur or an alien? Or an alien Minotaur. That's not a question I thought I'd be asking this morning."

"It's both actually," the Doctor says, walking to a computer behind them. "Here we go." He reads the information in some alien language on the screen. "Distant cousin of the Nimon. They descend on planets and set themselves up as gods to be worshipped. Which is fine until the inhabitants get all secular and advanced enough to build bonkers prisons."

"Correction," Rory calls, having wandered off with Gibbis to a porthole in the floor. "Prisons in space."

"Where are the guards, then?" Peyton asks, walking over the computer as well.

"No need for any," he explains. "It's all automated. It drifts through space , snatching people with belief systems and converts their faith into food for the creature."

"It didn't want just us," Peyton looks up at the Doctors face. "You never saw an exit, a way out. It saw a faith in you too."

"So what do Time Lords pray to?" Amy asks, appearing on the other side of the Doctor.

"According to the in-flight recorder, the programme developed glitches," the Doctor ignores her. "It got stuck in the same setting. The fears from the people before us weren't tidied away."

The Minotaur growls from the floor behind them, causing Peyton's head to turn and look down at the dying beast. "What's it saying?"

"An ancient creature," the Doctor translates. "Drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze. For such a creature, death would be a gift."

The Doctor crouches down and places a hand over the Minotaur's chest. "Then accept it and sleep well." 

The Doctor gets up and walks away, turning his back on the creature but another choked growl stops him in his tracks. "I wasn't talking about myself."

• • •

"Don't tell me," Amy says as they leave the Tardis. "This isn't Earth, that isn't a real house. And inside lives a goblin who feeds on indecision."

Peyton looks up and down the street, lined in one side by perfect terrace houses and on the other a park.

"Nope," the Doctor shakes his head. "Real Earth, real house, real door keys."

He tosses a key ring up in the air which Amy catches, the chime of the metal rings in the air as they fall into her hands.

"You're not serious," Amy says quietly.

"The car, too?" Rory asks, walking toward the vintage-looking bright red sports car parked outside the house. "But that's my favourite car. How did you know that's as my favourite car?"

"You showed me a picture of it once and said, 'that's my favourite car'," the Doctor says, doing a horrible impression of Rory before tossing him a second ring of keys. "Peyton, I'm not forgetting you either, that one there, all yours."

He tosses Peyton a final set of keys. She catches them and looks up at the house right next door to the Ponds.

"Like we said when we were kids," Rory smiles. "Living right next door."

"Rory, can you give us two minutes," Amy asks.

Rory turns to the Doctor and wraps an arm around his shoulders. "She'll say that we can't accept it because it's too extravagant and we'll always feel a crippling sense of obligation. It's a risk I'm willing to take."

He heads inside to their brand new home. Amy pats the bonnet of the car before leaning back on it herself. The Doctor joins her. Peyton feels a bit conflicted whether she was supposed to join them or Rory but Amy makes a small 'come here' motion.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Amy asks the Doctor.

"You haven't seen the last of me," he smiles. "Bad penny is my middle name! Seriously, the looks I get when I fill in a form."

"Doctor, you can't," Peyton protests.

"Why now?" Amy looks at him sadly.

"Because you're all still breathing," he sighs.

"Well, I think this is about the washing-up, personally," Amy jokes.

"I mean, you're right, there's still heaps of stuff out there to look at," the Doctor shrugs, walking back toward the Tardis. "Do you know, there's a planet out there whose name literally translates as 'Volatile Circus'?" He stands in the doorway of his Time Machine. "Or maybe there's a bigger, scarier adventure waiting for you in there."

"Maybe for her, Doctor," Peyton runs up to the box, looking up at him. "Thank you for the house and everything, but I can't be here, on Earth. You said it yourself, I have to be out there, I'll always be cramped down here."

"You may be right, but it can't happen like this. After everything we've been through, Doctor," Amy says, walking towards the two of them. "Everything. You can't just drop me off at my house and say goodbye like we shared a cab."

"And what's the alternative? Me standing over your grave?" The Doctor asks, walking up to her. "Over your broken body, over Rory's body?"

Amy pulls him in for a hug, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Take her." She says, Peyton looks at her in surprise. "Peyton is right, as much as I love her, you have to take her and show her everything. And I don't want you to be alone." They pull away from each other. "It's a big box," she continues. "And an even bigger universe. You need her as much as she needs you."

"You're right," the Doctor nods, staring at the ground. "You're right."

"And if either of you bump into my daughter, tell her to visit her old mum sometime."

"Of course," Peyton smiles, tearing up. "Look after Rory."

"Look after _him_ ," Amy smiles back at her. The Doctor chuckles and bows his head slightly as Amy leans forward to kiss him on the forehead.

The Doctor walks back to the box and Peyton wraps her arms around Amy tightly. "Thank you," she whispers in her ear.

"I'll miss you," Amy says, holding her best friend tightly. "Don't be a stranger."

"With him, I might be back tomorrow, who knows?" Peyton smiles sadly as the two break apart. "Say bye to Rory for me."

Amy nods as Peyton steps backwards away from her and stands in the doorway of the Tardis before tossing her new keys to Amy. "For safekeeping," she nods.

With one more step backward she closes the Tardis door on Amelia Pond.

• • •

Peyton sits on the brown seat by the console, arm draped over the metal railing behind her. She stares off into space, her mind replaying her interaction with her father. It's horrible, but like a car crash; she just can't look away.

"Peyton, what are you doing?" The Doctor asks very quickly. Peyton looks up at him over the other side of the console. He is visibly paler than usual, eyes fixed not on her but on her hand that was draped along the metal bar.

She looks at her hand too, lying still against the cold metal. "I was just thinking, about the hotel."

"No, the thing you were doing with your hand."

She flexes her fingers for a second before letting them fall back into the metal in a pattern she subconsciously remembers tapping while she was trapped in her mind.

A rhythm of four.

"Peyton, what are you doing?" He says in a dark voice, giving away to Peyton that he's scared, really scared.

"Nothing," she pulls her hand away. "It just tapping, sorry if it annoyed you."

"You told me that you saw the Daleks in your room," the Doctor says, walking around to her very slowly. "We're you lying to me?"

He stands in front of her, looking down. His eyebrows knitted together in an expression of fear and concern.

"No," she lies. "It was the Daleks. Why are you being weird?"

The Doctor storms away back to his console. He throws a quick glance back to her. He knows she's lying.

"Get some rest," he says with a sigh, not looking at her. "It's a big day tomorrow... probably."


	27. In London #1

The first time Peyton noticed two men in black suits watching her was on the bus home after she jumped off the Tube, heading back to Wisteria street after an interview with the British Museum for a position as an assistant in the, relatively new, Extra-terrestrial wing.

They remained on the bus when she got off one stop earlier than usual, smart enough to not show them where she lives. Rule one of being followed; act randomly.

The second time was on the Tube. Even behind their heavily tinted sunglasses, Peyton could feel their heavy gaze resting upon her.

They look human, but from her experience, that does not always hold true. She wishes the Doctor was here. He'd know what to do.

He dropped her outside number Ninety-Five Wisteria Street after two months had passed for the Londoners around them, But for Peyton and the Doctor, it had been sixty-three years. The Doctor had reported that she had stopped aging after a year of being on the Tardis together, just Peyton and the Doctor. Though it ended up being more sitting around and studying than fighting and running and monsters like she was used to. The Doctor had been careful, very careful with her.

That's not to say that trouble didn't find them, it often did. Peyton and the Doctor never failed to save the day when the time called for it, and every time the Doctor tried to convince her to return home. She never did of course.

He taught her how to fly the Tardis, very nearly all by herself, she mastered her Silurian, Judoon, and most importantly, Gallifreyan. She even made herself known in the universe. The two were visiting a museum on Gluyen Rhys where they found it, the carving of the Doctor, in an image of him saving the planet, and beside him, a figure labelled 'the Apprentice'. Peyton had chuckled at that. The Doctor seemed worried.

The day came not long after that when the Doctor materialised the Tardis outside her door. The Doctor explained to her that there was something he had to do, alone. And Peyton immediately knew what was happening.

"You know, don't you," she had said, in the Tardis' doorway, a backpack full of her things swung over her shoulder. He nodded.

"I'll be seeing you soon," he had replied.

"But I won't," she had whispered as she watched the Tardis dematerialise.

The Ponds were ecstatic at her return, asking a million questions about their time together. Peyton smiled through it and acted as if she was unaware of where the Doctor said he was heading. They gawped when she told them her age, she thought that was funny.

The third time Peyton saw the suited figures was almost a relief. It was about a month after the last encounter it started with the sound of her doorbell. At first, she thinks it's Rory, back from his shift at the hospital. Sometimes he brings back treats from the bakery on his way home and will even get an extra one for her.

When she opens the door however, there's two men in suits, the same she's seen following her around London, flanking a woman wearing a navy blue pantsuit, her blonde hair cut into a stylish bob. Something about her face seems familiar, like an echo of a memory.

"Peyton Barrett?" She asks.

"What do you want?" Peyton holds the door firmly, ready to slam it in their faces.

"My name is Kate Stewart, head of Scientific Research at U.N.I.T., have you heard of us?" She holds up an ID card.

Peyton's breath hitches in her throat. U.N.I.T. It had been a while since she's even thought about them. This woman, Stewart, she remembers her because she led the team who took care of her as a child, but she doesn't recall any frequent meetings with her.

"What do you want?" She repeats, trying to fight back irrational anxiety rising in her chest. She may be an adult, fighting Daleks, Angels, and the Silents in her spare time but the power of her childhood nightmares seem to get the better of her right now.

"You and your next-door neighbours are known companions of the known alien, the Doctor," she explains. "My co-worker is with them now but I've come to you with a unique offer."

Peyton keeps a straight face while her hearts beat an uncomfortably quick rhythm.

"May we come in?"

With a quick glance to their earpieces, she formulates a plan. Peyton opens the door to let them in, subtly reaching for her sonic pen from her hallway stand and slips it into the pocket of her jeans. One pulse would short circuit them and give her time to run.

Peyton leads them to her kitchen where Kate takes a seat at her small table while her bodyguards elect to stand in the doorway.

"Your unique offer?" Peyton raises an eyebrow as she turns on the kettle. It's a British thing. "How do you take your tea."

"Black, please," Kate smiles curtly. "U.N.I.T. has accessed all files on you, your school records, very impressive Miss Barrett."

"Thank you," she replies shortly, eyeing the two men seemingly blocking her exit, she could always go for the window.

"How long have you been associated with the Doctor?" She asks.

"I think, that is none of your business," Peyton snarks.

"Peyton, I am not here to interrogate you. I want to be your friend here," she clasps her hands together on her table. "Your loyalty to him is commendable."

"Some constructive criticism; sending goons to follow someone around isn't the best way to get chummy with someone," Peyton turns away from her as the kettle finishes boiling. She grabs two mugs from the cupboard and places a teabag in each. She pours the water and adds sugar and milk to her own before walking over to sit opposite Kate.

"Thank you," she nods. "Can we talk business now?"

"Yeah, what do you want?" Peyton sighs, before taking a long sip of tea.

"I have a job offer for you."

"I have a job, thanks," she smiles cynically. She had started work at the museum a few weeks back. It was quiet and she spends her days showing tourists around slightly factually incorrect exhibits about alien incursions and sightings from the past few years.

"We'll double your salary," Kate promises. "And I think your talents are more suited to what we do, rather than being a tour guide."

"Say I'm interested, which I'm not, what exactly did you have in mind?"

• • •

She ended up taking the job, despite her initial fears. The museum was frankly dreadful and Kate's offer had her thinking. Officer for Extra-terrestrial Affairs was to be her title, rather extravagant in her mind. Kate had quite rightfully said that there is no one on Earth with her level of intelligence and hands-on experience with alien life forms. More than she knew. It was to be her job to discuss arbitration with any non-terrestrial life forms that happen upon Earth.

Peyton had decided that it was the best way to help people without the Doctor around, carry on his legacy of protecting the Earth, yes, that is what she'd do.

The walls of U.N.I.T. headquarters unsettle Peyton to the bones. It freaks her out a little knowing that a little four-year-old version of her is trapped somewhere in the tower.

For a second she contemplates the temporal complications about being in the same building as her younger self, after racking her brain she fails to recall ever meeting anyone who looks like herself.

"Mr and Mrs Williams' memory of our visit has been erased as knowledge of this agency's undertakings is strictly confidential," Kate notes as she walks Peyton to her office. Her office. She used to dread the thought of that.

For a second she frowns at the statement 'Mr and Mrs Williams', what could she possibly want with Rory's parents? Then she realises that she's talking about the Ponds.

"So why did you bother them in the first place?" Peyton asks. She goes to shove her hands into her pockets only to realise her smart business pants don't have any. Apparently U.N.I.T.'s dress code doesn't agree with her regular, laid back, dress sense.

"We try to keep tabs on all terrestrials who come into regular contact with the Doctor," she explains.

"Right," she mutters. Every time another U.N.I.T. worker walks past her, she begins to feel a little jumpier as if she's about to be found out at any second.

"And here we are," Kate says, opening a glass door and showing her inside. "This is you."

Peyton raises her eyebrow at the, plain decor. a brown couch sits against a wall, facing a study desk with a computer and an equally brown desk chair. Filing cabinets line the far wall and a single fake succulent on the desk brings some colour to the room

"By any chance would I be allowed to do anything that could make this place less..."

"Drab?"

"... Depressing."

"Yes, of course, it's all yours, do what you want," Kate waves a hand before walking over to the desk, placing a file down on it. "These are your details for the computer and all other U.N.I.T. systems, your employee ID card and everything you need to get started."

"Right," Peyton nods grimly, looking around before sitting herself down into the stiff chair. That's going to be the first thing to go.

"And while I'm here," Kate says slowly, inspecting the file still in her arms. "There are some strange gaps in your medical records. Company policy, I'm afraid, we require a full medical profile in order to prevent any security breaches. We could go down to the medical bay now, it won't take ten minutes to fill out the rest of this."

Peyton pales. If she goes down there, they're going to discover that she is a biological match to the small child they have locked up here. "Uh, I think I'll pass for now. Another time? I just want to, you know, get used to the place."

"Miss Barrett, I must insist. If you refuse to follow now, I will be forced to call security. It's protocol," Kate warns.

"No, no, no!" Peyton stands quickly, sending the chair backwards as she does so. "I just, just.."

"You were adopted," Kate interrupts her. "In 1995 to a Mr and Mrs Barrett, closed. But your surname by birth is not on the records, nor are any details of your adoption. In fact, I had my people trace every foster home, every orphanage in the U.K, everywhere has turned up negative for a Peyton of your description. Not only that, but there were no recorded Peytons born anywhere in the U.K in 1989. So, unless you might provide me with a perfectly sound explanation for this or we have one hell a problem on our hands."

"I'm sorry Ms Stewart, but you must have made a mistake in your record keeping," Peyton says as coolly as she can. "I'll be happy to do it myself." 

"That won't be necessary," Kate says, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "Miss Barrett, if you continue refusing to comply I'm going to have to call security. I'm not sure who you think you are." 

"I think... I think you have a theory," Peyton says, giving up. She grabs her chair and slouches back down. "Care to share?"

"You can't be... there's no way," Kate protests, looking at the girl in front of her with bewilderment.

"In two years time, you're going to have a breakout," Peyton leans forward, resting her elbows on the table and her head atop her clasped hands. "And you just have to let her run, make it feel like she's being chased, she has to believe it. Set the Time Vortex Manipulator that I know you have somewhere in that Black Archive of yours out into the loading bay and set the coordinates to Leadworth, 1995."

"She's a scientific marvel," Kate argues. "We can't let her out into the public, the advancements we'll make with her genius, the lives we could save."

"I was a child!" Peyton yells abruptly, startling the woman. "And you stole years of my childhood. I ended up making up for lost time, no thanks to you, of course, I went to school, I scraped my knees, I kissed some boys, and I lived like any child should. Anyway, I'm here now, so to stop it happening would create a paradox and you know what happens when you little humans mess with time. A certain Doctor has to come and fix it."

Kate doesn't reply and Peyton is sure she's just lost her job before she's even started.

"I guess we don't need the trip down to medical then," she says quietly, collecting herself. "We have everything on file, already."

"I guess you do," Peyton sighs with relief, leaving back into the chair. 

"You need to attend a meeting in briefing room three at half twelve, the prime minister wants to meet you. Also, any particular chance you could tell me the specific date of when I should be expecting this breakout?"


	28. The Day the Doctor Didn't Die

"Oh my God!" River gasps, looking back toward the lake.

Peyton turns her head too and quickly scrambles to her feet.

"What the..." She trails off.

An astronaut, not a modern one either, is standing in the lake. It seems not to be moving, but how did it get there? Peyton stumbles a step forward toward it but the Doctor places a hand on her shoulder with an uncomfortable amount of force.

"You all need to stay back. Whatever happens now, you do not interfere. Clear?"

They all nod unsurely but stay by the picnic mat as the Doctor drops his bottle of wine in the sand and makes his way toward the astronaut who meets him on the shore.

It's difficult to see what's going on, the Doctor seems to be taking to it.

It raises its arm and shoots the sand beside the Doctor with a bolt of green energy.

Peyton jumps, startled.

"It can't..." River whispers before everything around them turns to white.

• • •

Peyton can't remember much about the reality where time stopped and everything happened at once.

It's like a dream, the more she thinks about it, the less she remembers.

She recalls an eye patch, Madame Kovarian, the Pyramids of Egypt, and a wedding.

She sits beside Amy in the Pond's garden, the two of them have blankets around their shoulders and glasses of wine left on the table in front of them. Together, they look up into the sky, mourning for the man they've lost. The great, impossible man. Their Doctor.

The crackle of a Time Vortex manipulator sparks behind them.

"Heard there was a freak meteor shower two miles away," Amy says. "So I got us a bottle."

"Thank you, dear," River Song says, dressed in camouflage. Peyton looks up to her and is astonished. She looks exactly the same as the day they met all those years ago under the Byzantium. She pours herself a glass.

"So, where are we?" Peyton asks.

"I just climbed out of the Byzantium," she sits beside Peyton. "You both were there. So young, didn't have a clue who I was. You're funny like that. Where are you?"

"The Doctor's dead," Amy sighs before taking another sip of wine.

"How are you doing?"

"How do you think?" Peyton shrugs.

"Well I don't know unless you tell me."

"I killed someone," Amy admits. "Madame Kovarian, in cold blood."

"In an aborted time-line in a word that never was-"

"Yeah, but, I can remember it, so it happened, so I did it," Amy interrupts her daughter. "What does that make me now?"

"I just wish I could talk to the Doctor right now, but I can't, can?" Peyton says as Amy stares back off into space.

"If you could talk to him, would it make a difference?"

"But he's dead, so I can't," she looks at River who places her glass down gently.

"Oh, Peyton, of course he isn't," River reaches over and rubs her thigh through the blanket.

"What?" That snaps Amy our of her daydream. "Not for you I suppose, you're seeing the younger version of him, running around and having adventures."

"Yeah, I am. But that's not what I mean," she smiles.

"River, we saw him die," Peyton looks at her sadly as River picks up her glass again. "He's not coming back."

"Then what do you mean?" Amy ask stiffly.

"Okay," she sighs. "I'm going to tell you what I probably shouldn't. The Doctor's last secret. Don't you want to know what he whispered in my ear?"

"He whispered his name," Peyton breathes, barely audible. A secret that he has kept even from her. She used to feel hurt every time she had asked and he had refused her. But she had soon made peace with the fact that despite the close relationship she believed to have with the Doctor, that his name may be the one thing that is never shared between them. 

"Not his name, no," River shakes her head

"Yeah it was," Amy reasons. "He said it was."

"Rule one?"

"The Doctor lies," Peyton realises, sitting up a little straighter, a tiny twinge of hope sparking in her heart.

"So did I, all the time, have to, spoilers," she shrugs. "Pretending I don't know you're my mother. Pretending I didn't recognise a space suit in Florida."

"What did he whisper in your ear?" Peyton asks.

"Oh, that man," River smirks. "He's always one step ahead of everyone. Always a plan."

"River, what did he tell you?" Amy looks into her eyes. River just smiles. "River."

"Do you remember Berlin?"

"Yes," Amy nods.

"No, actually, I got left behind on that one," Peyton huffs.

"Sorry, love, I was in a bit of a rush," River apologises. "But, Amy, remember the people who were trying to kill me, the Tesalactor?"

Amy nods, as does Peyton. She had been told all about this crime fighting robot before heading over to visit a scared little boy in London.

"He said, 'look in my eye'."

Amy lets out a giggle.

"He was..." Peyton gasps, bringing a hand to her mouth, her face erupting into a smile.

"Yep."

"And so he's..." Amy starts excitedly.

"Not dead."

The three jump up and wrap their arms around each other in a group hug, laughing and jumping up and down. Pure ecstasy in their minds and hearts.

The Doctor, that mad, stupid man, he is still out there, somewhere. And he's coming back for them, Peyton knows it.

The sound of the back door opening alerts them to the presence of Rory, back home from a quick nip out to the shop.

"Oh my God," Amy clasps her hands over her mouth when she sees him, still jumping up and down. As he walks over, Amy throws herself at him, wrapping her arms tight around his neck. Peyton jumps on too, holding both Ponds in her arms.

"What's going on?" Rory ask, confused but clearly happy that the two of you aren't moping around. "Hi, River."

"Hi, Dad." 

"Rory, we've got something to tell you," Peyton bursts. "River, tell him."

River Song tells Rory exactly what she told Amy and Peyton just before.

"Are you sure, River? Are you properly sure?" he asks.

"Of course I'm sure. I'm his wife!" She laughs.

"Yes, And I'm his," Amy pauses, her face of elation turning to one of dread. "Mother in law."

Peyton feels as if this would be a hilarious time to bring up the time that she snogged the Doctor but decides that Amy is probably going through it enough.

"Father, dear, I think Mummy might need another drink," River smiles.

"Yes," Rory nods.

Rory picks up his wife's glass, refilling it from the bottle before handing it to her. He grabs Peyton's and River's and tops them both up as well before pouring his own.

"To the Doctor," Rory toasts.

"The Doctor," they chorus as their glasses meet in the air.

"So if you're his mother in law," Peyton smirks, a great idea blossoming in her head. "And you reckon he's my uncle, what does that make you to me?"

She gets a shove in return but Peyton just laughs as she tries not to spin wine on her shirt, feeling happy and at peace for the first time in quite a long while. 


	29. In London #2

"Come a long way since Demon's Run, then?" Rory laughs, brandishing his sword at Peyton in the backyard of the Pond's place.

"Well, the Doctor and I had some time to kill," Peyton smiles, twirling her sword artfully. "I decided I should learn."

"You kids don't have too much fun," Amy calls from the deck, sunglasses perched on her nose, drinking iced tea. "Peyton, if you kill my husband, I'm marrying you. Rory, if you kill my best friend, I'll kill you."

"Thanks, Amy," Rory looks over to his wife, lowering his sword and glaring at her.

"On your guard, Centurion," Peyton playfully jabs her sword in Rory's direction. "Hopefully after two thousand years, you haven't forgot all your moves."

"Oh, I have moves to spare," Rory lunges forward with his sword held high. Peyton lifts her blade to block his strike, holding her position defensively.

"Go, Peyton!" Amy cheers.

"Thanks, Aimes," Rory sighs, still holding his position over Peyton.

"Lovely cheerleader, your wife," Peyton smirks. She ducks out from under the taller man and delivers a blow which quick footed Rory parries.

The two pace around each other waving their swords threateningly at one another.

"Let's be fair here," Rory says, twirling his blade and inspecting it. "I learnt how to fight in the first century, you probably learnt in some future, space... place. Completely different systems I bet."

"Fifteenth century, France actually," she tuts. "Joan of Arc fancied me."

"I bet she did."

"Will you both stop with the flirting?" Amy groans sarcastically. "Go back to swording."

Both Peyton and Rory look to the red haired girl who shrugs innocently.

"Well, come on, Barrett," Rory looks her up and down. "Show me your moves."

Steel hits steel in the air between the part-time time travellers.

A strike, a parry, a block. The two dance around the garden with swords twirling through the air.

"Not bad, for an alien," Rory laughs when Peyton manages to hit him with the flat edge of her blade.

"Oh shut up, grandpa," Peyton teases.

Rory strikes back, bringing his sword down overhead which Peyton blocks just in time.

The two Leadworth kids jump back into action until Rory has Peyton's back against the white fence, sword tip inches from her chest.

"Woohoo! Go Roranicus!" Amy claps.

"You can't change sides because I'm losing," Peyton throws a pissed off look toward Amy as she readjusts her grip on the hilt of her sword.

Rory backs off a little with pride in his eyes, big mistake.

Peyton crouches and lunges to kick Rory's feet out from underneath him, causing him to fall flat on his back with a yelp. Peyton straightens herself swiftly and knocks the sword from his hand before pointing her own down at his face.

"And this round goes to Peyton," Amy claps. The blonde haired girl smiles down at Rory who still lays panting on the grass before tossing her sword to the ground and wipes her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand before extending it to help him up.

He takes it and he collects both swords before they walk up to the deck together.

"Look at you too," Amy sighs before pouring out two more glasses of iced tea. "Didn't think waving swords around was so much effort."

Rory and Peyton share a look of discontempt at Amy's ignorance. Peyton picks up her glass greatfully and falls into a deck chair beside Amy.

"How's the new job?" Amy asks, peering over her sunglasses at Peyton.

"It's interesting," Peyton says after taking a long sip of tea. She was told very explicitly that her position was top secret but how was she supposed to not go and tell her two best friends immediately. "I mostly just get paid to sit around and correct people."

"To be fair, not every old human knows how to speak alien languages and take apart spaceships," Rory raises his eyebrows.

Peyton chuckles. "And you two?"

"It's alright," Amy shrugs. "I'm enjoying it."

"London Hospitals definitely are a lot busier that Royal Leadworth," Rory raises his eyebrows before taking a sip of tea. "But it's a good busy, great people."

Peyton smiles before quickly drinking her glass dry. "Another round, Centurion?"

"I'm not going easy on you this time," he warns, getting to his feet and grabbing the swords. "No more Mr Nice Guy."

He tosses Peyton's sword to her who catches it with a confident smile.

"Could you not throw swords around over me?" Amy complains.

Both Peyton and Rory scurry away guiltily and onto the lawn for another round.


	30. The Day they Failed to Save Her

Peyton rubs her eyes as she walks down the stairs of her London apartment to the sound and smell of eggs and bacon cooking on the stovetop.

"Morning, Rory," Peyton yawns as she sees her friend and recent roommate in her kitchen.

"Thought I'd make breakfast," he explains.

"Yeah, I can see that. You don't need to make me breakfast every day," she sits herself down at her kitchen table.

Rory had been staying in her study for the past few weeks after he and Amy decided to split. Peyton had become the awkward intermediary between the two and seemed to play the role of the child in their parents' divorce.

It had been just over a year since the Doctor returned Peyton to Wisteria Street. Ten months ago, he showed up for Christmas after months of radio silence clearly not dead, despite the many voice mails Peyton had left him.

Peyton opens her laptop she had left on the table the night before as she doesn't have a home office as of recently. She opens and replies to various work emails as Rory finishes making breakfast.

As a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast is placed in front of her, she shuts her laptop, pushing it aside as Rory returns to the kitchen to grab two mugs of tea.

"So, is it today?" Peyton asks tentatively as she cuts into her egg, looking at the yolk running out onto her plate rather than up at Rory across from her as they begin eating.

"I found an apartment I've got my eye on," Rory avoids the question. "One bedroom, just five minutes away from work, too."

"Rory," Peyton looks up at him, pointing her fork accusingly.

"Can't you give them to her? She doesn't want to see me anyway," he groans.

"Rory, I'm not delivering your divorce papers back and forth," Peyton sighs. She watches as Rory picks at his breakfast defeatedly, slouched in her kitchen chair dejectedly. "Anything else on the agenda?"

"I'll grab some more bacon and bread from the store on my way back," he nods. "Need anything else?"

"I finished the Jammy Dodgers last night," Peyton says between bites of toast. "If you could pick some up that would be great cause I'm going to be home late."

"I didn't think you had to go in today," Rory frowns.

"The Russian Foreign Minister has changed his itinerary and wants to speak with us this afternoon," she rolls her eyes. "We're going to have to cancel Downtown Abbey tonight, sorry."

Rory shrugs. "Nah, I'm sure I can keep myself busy."

"So when are you going to go see her?"

"She has a job at midday, she said she'd text me."

"Right," Peyton nods. "I'm leaving at eleven, then I'll see you tonight."

• • •

Peyton is pleasantly supervised when she hops onto the Tube and finds herself sharing the carriage with only one other person. It is odd for a mid-morning on a weekday but Peyton decides that this is an omen that today is going to be a good day.

She takes a seat, placing her bag next to her and adjusting her blazer. She pulls out her phone and goes through Twitter casually as the train car twists and turns under London.

A metallic whirring sound causes her to freeze, eyes fixed on her phone. Carefully, she looks up at this other passenger on the train, except the sight of her causes Peyton to seize up again.

The man has something protruding from his forehead. A Dalek eyestalk, she'd recognise it anywhere. Peyton jumps to her feet, reaching for her sonic pen from her blazer pocket.

"What are you?" Peyton demands, her hand shaking as she points her pen at the creature.

The man raises his hand and she sees a Dalek gun protruding from his palm and Peyton stumbles backward in fright

The last thing she hears before she blacks out is the chilling and low, robotic voice of the Dalek.

"The Apprentice has been acquired."

• • •

As soon as Peyton comes to, she leaps to her feet, looking around wildly, rubbing the back of her head with her hand trying to relieve the ache that resides there. She panics and pats herself down. She sighs in relief when she realises that her sonic pen is back in her pocket with her phone.

She sees Amy standing a few feet away, quite stiffly with her arms crossed in front of her. Her face done up quite dramatically, she must have been taken on set. Amy nods to the floor behind Peyton.

She spins on the spot, just in time for Rory to come to. Oh, God, this is going to be awkward.

"Where are we?" Rory asks. Amy nods to a small barred window, the only one in the cylindrical white room. He jumps to his feet and he and Peyton walk together and stare out into space.

Dalek ships fill the starry sky before them. Peyton gulps. "I hate Daleks."

She reaches into her pocket, thank God she got this new phone before she and the Doctor parted ways so he could upgrade her with intergalactic roaming. She sends a quick text to her boss, letting her know that due to an unexpected kidnapping she could not make it to the afternoon's meeting, before shoving it back in her pocket.

"So, how much trouble are we in?" Rory asks no one in particular.

The sound of a door opening startled Peyton as she had not seen one. Spinning around, she sees a part of the wall raise up and the terrifying sight of a Dalek roll through.

"How much trouble, Mr Pond?"

It's him, Peyton could almost smile if not for the monster in front of her.

"Out of ten?" The Doctor strolls into the holding chamber after the Dalek, another behind him. "Eleven."

A motorised whirring from the ceiling causes the four of them to look up to see it retracting into the walls, then the floor rumbles beneath their feet. Rising.

Peyton looks up, all she can see is a domed glass roof above and no idea of where they're going, but soon her head reaches floor height, she stumbles backward as she looks around. The Tardis stands off centre in the room, but the walls are lined with Daleks. Hundreds of Daleks. It almost seemed like parliament. But Daleks could never have polite democracy, could they?

Peyton stares in awe at what must be the Dalek leader, out of his Dalekanium shell and in a glass plinth at the head of the room, a new generation Dalek by its side.

"Where are we?" Amy asks. "Spaceship, right?"

"Not just any spaceship," the Doctor murmurs. "The Parliament of the Daleks." He leans toward the three of them. "Be brave."

"What do we do?" Peyton stresses through her teeth, looking up at all the Daleks, why haven't they killed them yet?

"Make them remember you," he says, before turning to the leader, walking toward it slowly. "Well, come on then. You've got me! What are you waiting for? At long last, it's Christmas! Here I am!"

He opens his arms wide, facing the room and squeezing his eyes shut as if waiting to be shot down.

"Save us." The high pitched voice of the Dalek Leader echoes through the ship. Peyton didn't even realise that those words were in the Dalek's vocabulary.

"You will save us."

The Doctor lowers his arms and turns to look up at the creature. "I'll what?"

"You will save the Daleks."

"Save the Daleks!" Almost every Dalek in the room lights up, creating a tidal wave of noise as they all chant. "Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks!"

"Well," the Doctor says, trying to be heard over the racket. "This is new."

The Doctor begins pacing back and forth across a ramp up to the Dalek leader, as he does, the heads of almost all the Daleks follow him back and forth.

"What's he doing?" Rory asks.

"He's chosen the most defendable area in the room," Amy sighs. "Counted all the Daleks, counted all the exits and now he's calculating the exact distance we're standing apart and starting to worry. Oh, and look and him frowning now. Something's wrong with Amy and Rory, and who's going to fix it?"

Peyton rubs her temples, not only is she literally surrounded by the creatures of her nightmares, but she also has to put up with these two arguing. She's going to die listening to the Ponds having a domestic. Great.

"And he straightens his bow tie," Amy adds with a disapproving tone of voice.

"We have arrived," the Dalek leader announces. The Doctor checks his watch.

"Arrived where?" He asks.

"Doctor. The Prime Minister will speak with you now," the human-looking lady with a Dalek eyestalk sticking out of her forehead says.

The Doctor walks toward the creature before stopping and muttering something to the woman.

"Well?" He asks, upon reaching the Prime Minister.

"What do you know of the Dalek Asylum?"

"According to legend, you have a dumping ground," the Doctor says. "A planet where you lock up all the Daleks that go wrong. The battle-scarred, the insane. The ones even you can't control. Which never made any sense to me."

"Why not?" The Dalek asks as the Doctor begins to walk away.

"It is offensive to us to extinguish such divine hatred."

"Offensive?" The Doctor rasps.

"Does it surprise you to know the Daleks shave a concept of beauty?"

"I thought you'd run out of ways to make me sick," the Doctor growls. "But, hello again. You think hatred is beautiful?"

"Perhaps that is why we have never been able to kill you.."

A hole opens up in the centre of the platform Peyton, Amy and Rory stand on, causing them all to jump back. Peyton peers down into the empty space below and the singular bluish-grey planet hanging in the stars.

"The Asylum," the woman explains, walking down to them with the Doctor. "It occupies the entire planet. Right to the core."

"How many Daleks are in there?" Peyton asks anxiously, still peering down as the Doctor joins beside her.

"A count has not been made. Millions, certainly."

"All still alive?" The Doctor adds.

"It has to be assumed. The Asylum is fully automated. Supervision is not required."

"Armed?" Amy speaks up.

"The Daleks are always armed."

"What colour?" Everyone looks at Rory with a frown. "Sorry. There weren't any good questions left."

"This signal is being received from the very heart of the Asylum," the woman says.

Music begins playing from hidden speakers. Earth, classical. Carmen.

"What is the noise?" The White Dalek beside the Prime Minister asks. "Explain! Explain!"

"It's me," the Doctor sticks his hand in the air.

"Sorry, what?" Rory raises an eyebrow at him.

"It's me, playing the triangle," he laughs, miming the action. "Okay, I got buried in the mix. Carmen! Lovely show." He pulls out his sonic screwdriver and marches back up to the Dalek officials, scanning the transmitter. "Someone's transmitting this. Have you considered tracking back the signal and talking to them?"

None of the Daleks answer as the music keeps playing. "He asked the Daleks," the Doctor mutters.

He points his screwdriver at the interface, changing the settings. "Hello? Hello, Carmen?" He speaks into it. "Come in, come in, come in, Carmen."

"Hello!" A woman's voice calls. Young, British and very excited. "Yes, do you read me?"

"Yes, reading you loud and clear," the Doctor answers. "Identify yourself and report your status."

"Hello," the voice laughs nervously. "Are you real? Are you actually, properly real?"

"Yep, confirmed, actually properly real," the Doctor smiles.

"Oswin Oswald, Junior Entertainment Manager, Starship Alaska. Current status: crashed and shipwrecked somewhere... not nice. Been here a year, rest of the crew missing. Provisions good, but keen to move on."

"A year?" Peyton says under her breath. This poor girl.

"Are you okay, are you, under attack?" The Doctor asks.

"Some local life forms," she sighs. "I've been keeping them out."

"Do you know what those life forms are?" The Doctor leans against the interface.

"I know a Dalek when I hear one, yeah."

"What have you been doing, on your own, against the Daleks, for a year?"

"Making soufflés."

"Soufflés? Against the Daleks?" The Doctor laughs before turning serious. "Where do you get the milk?"

"This conversation is irrelevant," the white Dalek interrupts.

"No, it isn't," the Doctor yells back. "Because a Starliner's crashed into your Asylum, and someone's got in. And if someone can get in, then everything can get out. A tsunami of insane Daleks. Even you don't want that."

"The Asylum must be cleansed."

"Then why is it still here?" The Doctor stares down the Dalek's eyestalk. "You've got enough firepower in this ship to blast it out of the sky."

"The Asylum force-field is impenetrable," the woman explains.

"Turn it off."

"It can only be turned off from within the Asylum."

"A small task force could sneak through a force-field, send in a couple of Daleks," the Doctor waves a hand, walking back to his companions, that is until he stops in his tracks. "Oh!"

The Doctor spins slowly on the spot as he gives the Daleks a slow clap before sauntering back to glare at the white Dalek. "Oh, that's good. That's brilliant. You're all too scared to go down there! Not one of you will go! So, tell me, what do the Daleks do when they're too scared?"

"The predator of the Daleks will be deployed."

"You don't have a predator," the Doctor argues. "And even if you did, why would they turn off a force-field for you?"

Peyton places her head in her hands. He's so ruddy oblivious isn't he?

"Because you will have no other means of escape," the Dalek Prime Minister says.

"May I clarify," the woman steps forward. "The predator is the Dalek's word for you."

"Me?" The Doctor repeats, clearly appalled. " _Me_?"

Two more humanoid servants emerge from somewhere grabbing the Doctor's arms.

"You will need this," the woman says as they attach something to his wrist. "It will protect you from the nanocloud."

"The what? The nano- what?"

The men grab him and lead him to his companions.

"The gravity beam will convey you close to the source of the transmission."

Suddenly, a great pillar of light shines from the hole, causing Peyton to bring her hand up to shield her eyes.

"You must find a way to deactivate the force-field from there."

"You're going to fire me at a planet?" The Doctor exclaims as he is half-dragged beside Peyton. "That's your plan? I get fired at a planet and expected to fix it?"

"In fairness, that is slightly you M.O," Rory says.

"Don't be fair to the Daleks when they're firing me at a planet," the Doctor says as one of the men grab Peyton's wrist and attaches an identical device to the Doctor's to her wrist. Then he does the same to Amy and Rory. "What do you want with them?"

"It is known that the Doctor requires companions," the white Dalek says.

"Oh, brilliant," Peyton says through gritted teeth.

"Don't worry," the Doctor whispers to them. "We'll get through this, I promise. Don't be scared."

"Scared?" Amy Pond brags. "Who's scared? Geronimo."

The Doctor laughs before he is pushed into the beam of light.

Peyton screams as she feels a hand on her back and loses her balance, falling forward into the light.

All she can hear is rushing wind and her own screams. Peyton dares to open her eyes and can only see whiteness, and the Doctor and Amy as they plunge feet first toward the planet. That is until the sight of Rory's head rushing past her freaks her out even more.

"Rory!" She hears Amy cry.

With great effort, Peyton reaches her arm out, grabbing ahold of Rory's ankle. When she grabs it she realises she has no way of pulling him upright and promptly returns to screaming.

• • •

Everything hurts. Before she opens her eyes she can feel that half of her body on a cold and slightly damp surface, concrete mostly likely. The other half of her body is on top of something slightly squishy, warm, and... breathing.

Quickly she rolls off Rory and pushes herself up to her feet.

"Peyton?" He groans, still lying flat on the floor.

"Come here," she mumbles and grabs him under the armpits in an attempt to pull him up. With her help, he gets to his feet and the two of them look around.

Daleks, a bunch of Daleks. It doesn't take long for Peyton to notice that no light emanates from any of their eyestalks. Dead Daleks, or maybe just dormant. No matter, the things still make Peyton's skin crawl.

"You alright?" Rory asks.

"No," she gulps, taking a slow step forward. She feels Rory's hand grab hers and she exhales slowly.

Together, they walk toward the closest Dalek, Rory's other hand reaching out carefully. As soon as his fingers make contact with the monster, they both jump back, their hands falling apart. Peyton breathes heavily in relief that the thing didn't wake up.

Rory steps forward again and pushes the Dalek lightly, sending it wheeling back until it hits a pillar behind it with a metallic scrape.

"See, it's fine," Rory rubs Peyton's bicep comfortingly. She nods grimly, eyes still trained on the Daleks surrounding them.

He digs a small torch out of his pocket and Peyton stares at him. "Did you take a torch... to go get divorce papers signed?"

"Can we talk about _literally_ anything else?" Rory hisses.

"We need to find the Doctor and Amy," Peyton says, pulling out her sonic pen and scanning their surroundings. "Whatever this nanocloud is, it's blocking me from getting any signal."

"Well, let's start moving," Rory says, offering his hand again. "I'll beat up any Daleks that try to hurt you."

Peyton chuckles and looks up at her best friend, taking his hand. "I'm eighty-nine, I can handle myself, child."

"You know, never aging is only cool once you surpass a hundred, before then it's just slightly creepy," Rory fires back. "And either way, I've lived two thousand years, don't you get cocky." 

• • •

"Like, I know they're terrifying and trying to kill us constantly, but do you mind me asking why you get so rattled by them?" Rory asks as he shines his torch through the grates of a Dalek, trying to see if anything was still inside.

"I don't know," Peyton shrugs, feeling a bit self-conscious. "I think it's started when everyone forgot they tried taking over our planet."

"You've told me about that," he stands up straight, looking back at her. "It's insane, I should remember that."

Peyton shakes her head. "What I'm good at is convincing people, charming them into doing what I want to do. The Doctor says it's a gift I got from my Dad. You can't reason with a Dalek."

She looks down the eyestalk of another Dalek, her back turned to Rory.

Quietly, she hears the scrape of metal behind her and she jumps, turning around.

"It's okay," Rory puts his hands up in a sign for her to calm down. "It was just me."

Peyton nods and is about to turn back to the Dalek she was inspecting when the slow grind of metal on metal can be heard again.

The Dalek moves its head back to where it originally was but doesn't move any more.

Peyton and Rory both share a concerned look. Muscle memory? They don't have muscles. She guesses that if it's been sitting there so long the metal and springs could be rusted and inflexible.

"I'd stop messing with the Nazi tin can, Rory," Peyton whispers.

He nods and steps backward, away from the Dalek until his heel hits a metal pipe on the ground, sending a high pitched metallic scrap echo ring off the walls.

Neither of them breathe for a second as a blue light sparks in the Dalek's eyestalk.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Rory hisses under his breath as the Dalek swings it's head around to look at Peyton and then at Rory.

It's then Peyton notices the blue lights, growing in strength around the room. They're waking up.

"E- e- e- e-," the Dalek stammers.

"What? Sorry, what?" Rory looks at Peyton for help but she is too busy trying to look around the room, counting the newly active Daleks. Oh, great.

"E- e- e- e- eggs."

"Eggs?" Rory asks. "D'you mean those things?" He shines his torch at the Dalek's base where some of the balls on its panels are missing.

"Eeeeeggs."

"I don't... I don't know what you want..." Rory trails off. "Do you know what it means?"

"No idea," Peyton gulps.

"These things?" He asks the Dalek, picking up a sphere from the ground. "Are these eggs? You want this?"

"Rory..." Peyton realises. Daleks don't come from eggs, they're made. And these Daleks, just waking up from years, maybe centuries, are just stretching. Trying to say something. Their most basic impulse. "Rory, I think we should-"

"Eggs... term... in... ate!"

Rory drops the ball immediately, letting it fall and clang against the concrete floor. He steps back toward Peyton.

"Eggs... term... in... ate!"

"Eggs... term... in... ate!"

One by one, more Daleks begin joining in the chant, their arms moving slowly and jerkily as if testing joints that haven't been used in many years.

A flash of a Dalek gun snaps Peyton out of her frozen state. It scorches the wall next to Rory's head as he ducks out of the way. They're still slow. It could give them a chance to escape.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Rory, we've got to get out of here!" Peyton shouts, dashing toward him as a Dalek aims in her direction.

"Emergency! Emergency!"

Rory and Peyton duck together as the Daleks organise their attempts on their lives, they both duck behind a pillar, away from this main lot of Daleks, but they're waking up, moving toward them.

"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Run!" A very not Dalek voice sounds, it's that Oswin girl from the transmission, this time calling over the P.A. "The door at the end, run for it! They're waking up but they're slow. The door at the end, just run! Now, now, now!"

Peyton doesn't need to be told twice. She grabs Rory's forearm and they sprint together accompanied by the choir of Daleks screaming at them.

Just as they reach it, the door slides upward and together they dive underneath it.

Peyton rolls onto the floor and looks behind her as the door comes back down, sealing off the Daleks.

Rory pants beside her, and together they sit up and lean back on the wall.

"So, anyway," the girl says cheerfully. "I'm Oswin. What do I call you too?"

"Er... I'm Rory," he says awkwardly, not sure where to look.

"I'm... I'm Peyton," she says, catching her breath.

"Lovely name, Rory. Quite like Peyton too. The first boy I ever fancied was called Rory."

"Okay," he says, getting to his feet before reaching an arm down to help Peyton up.

"Actually, she was called Nina," Oswin admits. "You look quite like her, Peyton."

Peyton and Rory both share a confused look.

"Just flirting to keep you cheerful."

The Daleks start banging against the door behind them, Peyton grabs Rory's sleeve on instinct. Rory shines his light up to the ceiling where they see a Dalek security camera, that's how Oswin must be seeing them.

Peyton walks up to it, looking into its blue lense, nervously. "Okay, any time you want to start flirting again, it's fine by me."

• • •

Keep moving, that's what Oswin said. Keep moving, she'll take care of anything that comes in the way.

Peyton and Rory walk in silence, their arms brushing past each other every so often.

The halls are dark, only illuminated by the pale light from Rory's flashlight, as it scans the walls where leaks can be spotted from above, creating the eerie dripping sounds creating an off-putting ambience. Peyton wonders to herself why there is so much water down here.

It's cold too, freezing, Peyton's smart pants and a matching blazer over her pale pink blouse do little to provide her warmth, Rory did offer his jacket but Peyton denied it with a grateful smile.

The feeling of uneasiness only grows as Rory's light begins to flicker. Peyton can't really blame him for not having fresh batteries installed, he really had no way of knowing they were going to be kidnapped.

"Uh," he hits the flashlight with his hand, like that would help, it doesn't, it blacking out completely, before walking up to a surveillance camera nearby. "You still there, by any chance?"

"Hey there, Beaky Boy," Oswin's voice reappears over the P.A.

"If it's a straight choice, I prefer Nina," Rory frowns.

"Loving this, the nose and this chin," Oswin laughs. "You two could fence."

"You know where the Doctor is?" Peyton asks hopefully.

"Yep, Amy too," Oswin reports. "There's a door behind you. In there quickly."

A door slides up behind them and the two don't hesitate in dashing through it. As soon as they're through the door is closed and Peyton takes a look around the dimly lit room.

No Daleks, that's good. A strange platform with glowing patterns in it in the centre of the room, wires and pipes line the walls and slither over the floor, most of which connecting to this platform.

"Okay, you're safe for now," Oswin says. "Pop your shirts off, quick as you like. Unless you're not that kind of couple."

"We're not a couple," they both reply very quickly.

"Ah, my bad," she chuckles. "I should go check on your friends, be back in a bit."

Silence, other than the sound of Peyton and Rory's breath, fills their ears as Peyton takes a better look around at where they are.

"What do you reckon it is?" Rory asks, gesturing to the platform.

"Uh," Peyton takes a better look at it, stepping up and standing in the centre of it before taking out her sonic pen and scanning downward. "Teleport, short-range, probably can only reach within the Asylum."

She jumps off it with a huff, inspecting the tubing and cords around the room. "But with a bit of effort, I might be able to increase its range. I don't know, not very good at that sort of thing."

"Look at you," Rory chuckles as Peyton crouches down by a large panel on the wall, causing her to stop and look back at him. "You're practically the Doctor 2.0."

• • •

"Oswin, what was that?" Rory calls a loud bang causes the room to shake suddenly, sending dust falling from the ceiling.

Peyton, unfortunately, had lost her balance and fallen over onto her hands and knees because she was still crouched and poking her pen around at the circuitry but she pushes herself back to her feet as everything settles.

"That was close," Peyton looks back to the door.

"Not sure, would you mind checking? A bunch of cameras just went out and I can't see."

"A bit, yeah," Peyton grumbles as the door reopens.

Together they jog out and soon enough find themselves in a large room, similar to where they ran from the Daleks earlier, this time, however, it is destroyed, dirt and smoke fill Peyton's lungs as they walk through. Not only that, the Daleks have been blown apart. Many have lost their top halves while others hardly remain at all.

"Who killed all the Daleks?" Rory whispers. 

Peyton immediately knows what happened. The Doctor happened. 

And then she sees him, holding an unconscious Amy Pond in his arms as he walks toward the two of them, his face dirtied and expression tired.

"Who do you think?" The Doctor smirks.

• • •

Back in the teleport room, the Doctor lays Amy down on the platform gently, still unconscious.

"Will sleeping help her? Slow down the process?"

The Doctor explained the situation and her missing bracelet.

"You'd better hope so," Oswin speaks up. "Because pretty soon, she's going to try and kill you."

Amy groans and the three of them lean down to see how she's doing, the boys on either side and Peyton by her head.

"Amy?" Peyton asks, stroking her hair gently.

"Ow," she groans.

"Amy, still with us?" The Doctor asks.

"Amy, it's me," Rory whispers. "Do you remember me?"

She reaches up and slaps him.

"She remembers me," he sighs.

"Same old Amy," the Doctor chuckles before getting to his feet.

"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek?" Oswin muses. "Subtract love, add anger. Doesn't she seem a bit too angry to you?"

"Well," Amy huffs, trying time sit up. "Somebody's never been to Scotland"

"What about you though, Oswin," the Doctor puzzles. "How come you're okay. Why hasn't the nanocloud converted you?"

"I mentioned the genius thing, yeah? I'm shielded in here."

"Hmm, clever of you," he nods, before jumping down from the platform and walking toward the security camera. "Now, this place, the Daleks said it was fully automated. But look at it, it's a wreck"

"Well, I've had nearly a year to mess with them and, not a lot else to do."

"A junior entertainment manager, hiding out in a wrecked ship, hacking the security systems of the most advanced warrior race the universe had ever seen. But you know what really gets me about you, Oswin?" The Doctor has started pacing. Pacing using means not good. "The soufflés! Where do you get the milk for the soufflés? Seriously, is no one else wondering about that?"

"I'm going to be real, it was very far down on my list of worries," Peyton glares at him.

"So, Doctor, I've been looking you up," Oswin doesn't answer his question. "You're all over the database, why do the Daleks call you the predator?"

"I'm not a predator, Just a man with a plan."

"You've got a plan?"

"We're all ears," Rory says sarcastically, eager as Peyton is to leave.

"There's a nose joke going if someone wants to pick that one off!" Amy says through another groan.

"In no particular order," the Doctor begins, walking back toward his companion. "We need to neutralise all the Daleks in this asylum, rescue Oswin from the wreckage, escape from this planet and fix Rory and Amy's marriage."

Peyton sighs.

"Okay, I'm counting three lost causes, anyone else," Amy sneers.

Peyton gets to her feet and walks away from her, pretending to inspect more wiring but really just uncomfortable in the newly reopened tension between Rory and Amy.

"Oswin, there's a Dalek ship in orbit," the Doctor says.

"Yeah, got it on the sensors."

"The Asylum has a force-field. The Daleks upstairs are waiting for me to turn it off. Soon as I do, they'll burn this whole world and us with it. So, Oswin, my question is this. How fast can you drop the force-field?"

"Pretty fast," she hesitates. "But why would I?"

"Because this is a teleport, am I right, Oswin?"

"Yeah, internal use only."

"But we can boost the power though, right Doctor?" Peyton spins around. "I did a bit of poking around before you found us."

"Yep," the Doctor smiles, bounding over to the platform, crouching down to inspect the circuitry. "And once the force-field is down, we can use it to beam us right off this planet."

"But you said, when the force-field is down, the Daleks will blow us up," Rory reminds him.

"We have to be quick, yes."

"Fine, we'll be quick, but where do we beam to?" Amy asks.

"Doctor, the only place that will be within range is..." Peyton trails off, not wanting to finish her own thought.

"The Dalek ship, yeah," the Doctor shrugs.

"Where they'd exterminate us on the spot," Amy says harshly.

"So this is the kind of escape plan where we survive about four seconds longer?" Rory raises his eyebrows sarcastically.

"What's wrong with four seconds?" The Doctor asks, looking up at his companions. "You can do loads in four seconds. Oswin!" He jumps up again. "How fast can you drop the force-field?"

"I can do it from here," she says. "As soon as you come and get me."

"No, just drop the force-field and come to us," he frowns.

"There's enough power in that teleport for one go," she reasons. "Why would you wait for me?"

"Why wouldn't we?"

"No idea, never met you. Sending you a map so you can come get me."

The Doctor jumps from the platform and heads to the interface computer.

"This place is crawling with Daleks," Peyton calls after him.

"Yeah, kinda why I'm anxious to leave," Oswin insists. "Come up and see me some time?"

Peyton, against her better judgement, attends the Doctor's side, peering at the map on the screen.

"So," Rory says quietly. "Are we going to go get her?"

"I don't think that we have a choice," the Doctor replies.

• • •

Peyton really hates the Doctor. But she had to agree with him, going along with him to find Oswin in a maze full of Daleks was better than sitting in a room alone with Rory and Amy's fighting.

"Emergency! Emergency!" They hear Daleks in the distance chorus.

The two Time Lords pad around quietly, filling the directions Oswin had given them.

"How are we feeling?" The Doctor asks, barely above a whisper.

"How do you think?" Peyton mutters back, looking down.

"Right, right..."

Peyton spots it, his wrist and the lack of life-saving bracelet. "Doctor, Doctor, are you okay? Where's your-"

"It's okay, I'm fine. I gave it to Amy," he pats her on the back. "Two hearts. It would take a lot to subtract that much love."

Peyton nods with a small smile and they keep moving.

"Also, why are you wearing _that_?" He looks her up and down.

"Wearing what?" She frowns.

"It's all business and grown-up. I don't like it," he shakes his head.

"You wear a suit every day, with a bow tie!"

"Bow ties are cool."

"I have to wear it, I have a job."

"You have a _job_?" He says in a surprised tone, far too loud for Peyton's liking.

"Shhh. Yes, I have a job, what do you think I have been doing since you haven't been around?" she sighs.

The Doctor doesn't answer. They walk in silence for a while longer through the maze.

"Oswin," the Doctor says, only loud enough so the P.A. can pick it up. "I think we're close."

"You are!" She says cheerfully. "Less than twenty feet away, which is the good news."

"Why do I feel like there's going to be bad news?" Peyton groans.

"You're about to pass through intensive care."

A door slides up at the end of the hall. The Doctor and Peyton share a frightened look and Peyton wastes no time in grabbing his hand.

They continue through the door into a green-lit chamber.

Cages of horizontal bars take up most of the room, within each one, a rusted Dalek, chained up for good measure as well, and yet, Peyton still felt no more comfortable.

"What's so special about this lot then," Peyton asks, swallowing her anxiety.

"Dunno," Oswin says. "Survivors of particular wars. Spiridon. Kembel. Aridius. Vulcan. Exxilon. Ringing any bells?"

"All of them," the Doctor says darkly.

"Yeah, how?"

"These are the Daleks who survived me."

Not far ahead is a single Dalek not in a cage. It's still heavily chained but it doesn't make Peyton feel any better as the Doctor leans in to inspect it.

"Doct... tor."

The Dalek voice makes Peyton's hearts spasm. She looks to the source of the sound where she finds a single active Dalek, a caged one, it's eyestalk trained on them.

"Doc... tor," another joins in.

Then another, and another, until every Dalek is chanting, calling out for the Doctor.

"That's weird," she hears Oswin's voice again. "Those ones don't usually wake up for anything."

"Yeah, well, special visitor," the Doctor says before tightening his grip on Peyton's hand and tugging her away from the Daleks.

They find the final door and he lets go of her hand to pull out his sonic. "Found the door, it won't open though," he says. "You can't be far away though."

"Hang on. Not quite sure really, there's a release. Let me, let me just... Anything happening out there."

"No," Peyton says, anxiously looking back to the waking Daleks.

"Hang on, I'm trying a thing."

The sounds of rattling chains and squeaking metal from the increasingly restless Daleks couldn't bode well, especially when two of the caged Daleks break free of their chains.

"Any time you're ready," Peyton squeaks, pressing her back against the door.

"Oswin, get this door open!" The Doctor yells. "Oswin, open this door!"

"I can't!"

"Please get this door open!" He screams.

More and more Daleks appear from the shadows, all advancing on the two time travellers, continuously shouting the Doctor's name over and over again.

The Doctor grabs Peyton's hand again. "Oswin! Oswin! Please get this door open! Help us! Help us!"

Peyton shuts her eyes tight and buries her face in the Doctor's sleeve. She doesn't want them to be the last thing she sees.

But a few seconds pass in silence, the Daleks ceasing their chanting out of the blue, no more metallic scraping or robotic whirring.

Peyton chances a look up just as the Daleks start turning away. How?

"Oh, that is cool," Oswin chuckles. "Tell me I'm cool, you two."

"What did you do?" Peyton pants watching in awe as the Daleks retreat into the shadows.

"Hang on, let me get the door thingie"

"No, tell us what you did!" The Doctors insists.

"The Daleks, they have a hive mind. Well, they don't, but they have a sort of telepathic web."

"The Path Web, yes," the Doctor nods.

"I hacked into it. Did a master delete on all the information connected with the Doctor."

"You made them forget me?"

"Good, eh? And here comes the door."

"I've tried hacking into the Path Web. Even I couldn't do it," the Doctor says as the Door raises behind them.

"Come and meet the girl who can."

Peyton looks into the room and both her and the Doctor falter as they see it. Covered in chains and a whole room to itself. Oh, God.

"Hey," the Dalek says. "You're right outside, come on in."

"Oswin, we have a problem," the Doctor says, halted to the spot.

"No, we don't. Don't even say that. Joined the Alaska to see the universe, ended up stuck in a shipwreck first time out. Rescue me, you two, and show me the stars."

"Does it look real to you?" He asks.

"Does what look real?"

"Where you are right now. Does it seem real?"

"It is real."

"It's a dream, Oswin, you dreamed it for yourself because the truth was too terrible."

"Where am I? Where am I?"

"Because _you_ are a Dalek." The Doctor's voice is low, almost a growl as he stalks toward the thing.

"I am not a Dalek! I am not a Dalek!" It insists. "I'm human!"

"You were human when you crashed here," the Doctor places a hand on its body. "It was you who climbed out of the pod. That was your ladder."

"I'm human."

"Not anymore," he says, looking into its grates. "Because you're right, you're a genius. And the Daleks need genius. They didn't just make you a puppet. They did a full conversion. Oswin, I am so sorry."

Peyton takes a step toward the Dalek, feeling a little safer knowing that it's not going to hurt her. Whatever remains of Oswin Oswald is inside there and she wouldn't hurt her, well hopefully not.

"You are a Dalek," the Doctor says, walking back to Peyton and signalling to her to back up a little. "The milk, Oswin. The milk and the eggs for the soufflés, where, where did it all come from?"

"I'm human," it repeats. "I am not a Dalek. I am human, I am not a Dalek!" It pauses. "Eggs."

"It wasn't real, it was never real," the Doctor sighs.

"Eggs." It says again but Peyton's eyes widen and she realises what the Dalek is actually trying to say. Just like the Daleks in the hall. "Term.. in... ate."

"Doctor, we have to get out of here," Peyton says in a squeaky voice as she backs away until her body hits the wall.

"Oswin?" The Doctor tries.

"Eggs... term... in... ate. Exterminate! Exterminate!"

The Dalek breaks its chains and moves toward the two of them slowly.

"No, no, no, Oswin, listen," the Doctor raises his hands, stepping backward quickly, making sure Peyton is behind him. "Oswin! You don't have to do this!"

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Oswin! Oswin!" The Doctor shouts as his back is pressed against the wall beside Peyton. He grabs her hand as she begins to hyperventilate beside him.

The Dalek keeps pressing forward, inch by inch until it's arm is touching the Doctor's body.

But then it stops. And the strangest noise can be heard from within.

Muffled crying and whimpers, a sound Peyton didn't know a Dalek could be capable of, and from the expression on the Doctor's face, nor did he.

"Why do they hate you?" The Dalek asks, quieter than Peyton had ever heard one speak before. "So much? They hate you so much. Why?"

"I fought them," the Doctor replies, his eyes downturned to the ground. "Many, many times."

"We have grown stronger in fear of you."

Peyton looks up at the Doctor, her memory cast so many decades ago to a little asteroid called Demon's Run and the words River Song had spoken there. Is this really who the Doctor is?

"I know," the Doctor pauses. "I tried to stop."

"Then run," the Dalek says.

"What did you say?" He whispers in shock.

"I've taken down the force field. The Daleks above have begun their attack. Run!"

The door slides up behind them.

"Oswin, are you-"

"I am Oswin Oswald. I fought the Daleks. And I am Human... Remember me."

"Thank you."

"Run!"

Peyton doesn't need to be told again, tugging on the Doctor's arm, starting their sprint back through the Asylum.

• • •

Peyton had seriously never been gladder to run into a room, avoiding imminent death to find Amy and Rory snogging.

'Finally', was her first thought, 'does this mean I get my office back?'

They land on Wisteria Street all in one piece and the Daleks having no memory of the Doctor, his Apprentice, or his companions. Peyton tosses Rory her keys and tells him to clear his stuff before jumping back into all of time and space with the Doctor.


	31. They Day Mr Williams Came Along For the Ride

Peyton stares up at the roof of the hut, her shoulders aching due to the angle her hands were tied to the pole behind her.

She was due to be tried for witchcraft at sunrise, which judging by the sounds of early morning birds chirping across the village was rather soon.

Her sonic pen is sitting upon a table several feet away and the Doctor had borrowed her phone before running off in his little blue box.

It's not that she didn't think the Doctor was coming back for her, but he was cutting it rather fine this time.

Movement can be heard from outside the hut, the sounds of the morning beginning for a village of witch killing brits.

Peyton felt her breaths quicken. She could talk her way out of this, she had to.

She readjusted herself best she could, her backside aching from sitting against the dirt floor all night.

The sound of wind rustling through the shaky structure only makes Peyton's mood worsen, that is until she realises that it's not wind.

In the corner of the shack, she sees the deep blue of the Tardis materialise next to the door. She rolls her eyes.

The Doctor pops his head out and looks around curiously until his eyes fall on his tied up companion.

"Where the _hell_ have you been?" Peyton scowls.

"Busy," he shrugs, walking behind her and crouching down to untie her bonds.

"Busy? Doing what?" She says as she gets to her feet unsteadily, shaking out her wrists.

"I found a thing," the Doctor explains. "Thing is sorted. Thing is all good."

Peyton shakes her head, storming away from his to grab her sonic from the table before pointing it at him accusingly. "All night! They were going to burn me! At the stake!"

The Doctor mouths the word 'sorry' at her before the door to the shack burst open, several angry-looking Tudors rush in, causing both the Time Lords to turn to them in shock.

Peyton whips her head back to the Doctor and points at the Tardis. He nods and scurries inside.

"Gentleman," Peyton turns to them with a broad smile before following the Doctor and standing in the doorway, leaning out and looking out at their confused faces. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to reschedule. Now, try this for witchcraft,"

She slams the door in their faces just as the Doctor pulls the Tardis into flight.

Satisfied with that brilliant exit, she turns to the console but abruptly halts upon seeing a woman, dressed in rather extravagant ancient Egyptian dress standing beside the Doctor.

"Who is that?" Peyton asks, marching up the flight deck, making sure her annoyance is clear in every syllable.

"Uh, Queen Nefertiti," the Doctor says, looking nervously between the two.

"So, let me get this straight," Peyton says, adjusting the vortex shields lazily. "You had time to go to Ancient Egypt, get pally with one of the most famous pharaohs in history and decided to come pick me just before I was about to be burned alive?"

Nefertiti looks very alarmed at this information but Peyton ignores her, looking toward the Doctor.

"You told me to piss off!"

"You were getting us arrested!"

Neither of them says anything more. Peyton storms around the console until she sees her phone propped up against the controls, she pockets it as she looks up at the monitor.

"Doctor," she sighs. "Why are we orbiting the Earth?"

• • •

"Craft size approximately ten million quart kilometres," Captain Indira reports.

"A ship the size of Canada coming at Earth very fast," the Doctor scratches his chin as he inspects the holo screen.

"Any signs of life?" Peyton asks,

"We sent you a drone craft, it too these readings," the Captain says, pulling up two panels of information with a finger.

"Crikey Charlie, look at that!" The Doctor explains as both he and Peyton bend over to get a better look. The scrolling texts goes way too fast for Peyton to read, she shakes her head, her eyes feeling a bit sore. "Ooh, we know someone who'd love a look at that," he says beginning to walk around the room. From the other side of the holo screen, Peyton sees Nefertiti being very overwhelmed by all the technology. "And the Ponds! Mustn't forget the Ponds! Haven't seen them in ages. I'm riffing," he places an elbow on the Queen's shoulder. "People usually stop me when I'm riffing or carry on without me. That's always an option. People is often Peyton. What's up with you?"

"Rough night, I'm tired," Peyton glares at him.

"Can you communicate with this craft?" Nefertiti asks, breaking up Peyton and the Doctor's arguing yet again.

"She's with me," the Doctor brags. "Good question, Neffy."

Peyton cringes at the nickname.

"No response on any channel in any recognised language," the Captain explains "if it comes within ten thousand kilometres of Earth, we send up missiles."

"Oh, Indira, I liked you before you said missiles," the Doctor complains.

"How long till the ship gets that close?" Peyton asks, rubbing her eyes.

"Six hours, nineteen minutes."

"Right, better get a shift on then," the Doctor nods. "Leave it with us. Come on then, Neffy, Peyton. You need a nickname."

"I really don't," Peyton sighs, marching past him back toward the Tardis.

• • •

Peyton had met John Ridell for a total of three minutes and she already dislikes him. Maybe it was the way that he called her 'pretty little thing' when he entered the Tardis, but mostly it was because the Doctor was somehow so friendly with him despite his rudeness.

"Time to grab the Ponds," the Doctor announces, throwing the switches on the console. Peyton begrudgingly joins him on the deck, setting the coordinates quickly into the time machine.

The Doctor pulls the Tardis to a stop.

"Hello, you weren't busy, were you?" He asks.

Peyton looks over to see that he simply materialised around them Ponds. And Brian. Brian Williams.

"Well, even if you were it wasn't as interesting as this probably is. Didn't want you to miss it," he continues, not seeming to notice the accidental stowaway aboard his ship as he flies around the console again. "Now, just a quick hop."

The Tardis comes to a stop again and Peyton is still staring at the Doctor, wondering when he is going to address the elephant in the room.

"Everybody grab a torch!"

• • •

"What the..." Brian stumbles out of the Tardis beside his son.

"Don't move!" The Doctor yells. Peyton freezes, out of habit when he does that.

The Doctor turns sharply and storms up to Brian. "D'you really think I'm that stupid I wouldn't notice?" He asks, shining the torch in his face. "How did you get aboard? Transmit? Who sent you?"

"Doctor," Rory steps in, clearing his throat. "That's my dad."

"Well, frankly, that's outrageous," the Doctor turns to Rory,

"What?"

"You just think you can bring your dad along without asking? I'm not a taxi service you know!"

"You materialised around us!" Rory yells back

"Oh," the Doctor gasps. "Well, that's fine then, my mistake." He turns back to Brian. "Hello, Brian, how are you? Haven't seen you since the wedding. Welcome, welcome! This is the gang. I've got a gang. Yes! Come on then, everyone!"

"Tell him something, quick!" Amy says before dashing after the Doctor with Nefriti and Ridell

"Yes, thank you!" Rory calls after her.

"I'm not entirely sure what's going on," Brian says.

"You know when Amy and I first got married and we went travelling? Also, Peyton was there."

"To Thailand, and I thought that was a bit weird, yeah," he says, eyeing Peyton who smiles awkwardly.

"More the entirety of space and time in that Police Box," Rory says pointing at the Tardis.

Brian turns and looks at it wildly.

"Also, Peyton is half-alien and kind of from the future," he adds.

Peyton glares at him, giving his bicep a punch.

"A what?"

The place rumbles loudly, causing the three of them to look around cautiously.

"Let's go," Peyton says, jogging to catch up with the rest.

They catch up just as the Doctor and Amy stop ahead. Peyton looks over their heads to see a door, she like everyone else shines her touch at it.

It's large, must be a cargo door but from the overgrown state of this ship, she doubts any cargo trucks have used it for a very long time

The sound of a lift mechanism can be heard behind it, which cancels Peyton's first theory.

"It's coming down," the Doctor mutters.

"What is it?" Peyton asks.

"No idea."

With a crash it stops, red lights flash and an alarm blares as the industrial doors slowly slide apart, a bright light emanating out from it.

Something roars.

"Not possible," Riddell gasps.

"Run?" The Doctor suggests, everyone turns to leave except for him and Peyton.

"Is that?" Her jaw drops. It can't be. It's not possible.

"Doctor, Peyton!" Amy's voice yells.

Two Ankliosauruses stand before them in the Doctor and Peyton's torchlight.

"I know!" The Doctor laughs. "Dinosaurs, on a spaceship!"

• • •

Peyton slowly regains her breath as the dinosaurs crash past their hiding spot along the wall. Dinosaurs, how can there be Dinosaurs? She should really stop asking questions at this point.

As they pass, the Doctor creeps back out, quickly followed by Rory and Brian.

"Okay, so, how? And whose ship?" Rory whispers as the rest of the group tiptoe out.

"Well, there's so much to discover," the Doctor says. Basically, he doesn't know. "Think how much wiser we'll be by the end of all this.

"Sorry, sorry," Brian interrupts, butting past his son toward the Doctor. "Are you saying dinosaurs are flying a spaceship?"

"Brian, please," the Doctor shakes his head. "That would be ridiculous. They're probably just passengers. Did I mention missiles?"

"Missiles?" Brian gasps. Rory looks toward Peyton who simply smiles awkwardly, forgetting she had left that part out.

"Anyway, six hours is a lifetime, not literally a lifetime, that's what we're trying to avoid," the Doctor chuckles. Rory laughs sarcastically, grabbing his father's arm protectively.

"We'll get it under control is what he means," Peyton steps in. "No need to be concerned. Well, a little concern is okay. Concern will prevent complacency, complacency will prevent being alive."

"Have I ever told you that you are starting to sound like him?" Rory glares at her for freaking out his dad further.

"Anyway," the Doctor nods, pointing his torch behind them. "Let's see what we can find out."

Peyton and Rory follow the Doctor as he heads straight for a monitor on the wall, surrounded by greenery and overrun by spiderwebs. The footsteps of the others stay close behind.

With one motion, the Doctor pulls the dusty spiderwebs away from the screen and wipes them on Brian's vest with a groan of disgust.

"How many dinosaurs do you think are on here?" Amy asks, inspecting the wall not too far from the group inspecting the computer.

With a wave of his sonic screwdriver, the screen begins to glow with data, all in a language Peyton couldn't understand, the Tardis translation matrix taking its time to kick in. She sees a picture of the ship, the same as she had on the Earth protection base with readings from several different branches.

"Oh, well done, whoever you are," the Doctor cheers. "Looking for engines. Thank you computer. Look at that," he points to the screen. "Different sections have different engines, but these look like the primary clusters. Where are we now, computer? We need to get down to these engines-"

With a weird tingle as if her whole body had been shocked by static electricity, between blinks Peyton finds herself on a beach. How did they get on a beach!

"- and find out how..."

"What?!" Rory shouts, spinning around.

"We're outside. We're on a beach," Brian gasps.

"How did we get on a beach?" Peyton frowns, crouches down to touch the sand before poking her sonic pen at it. Definitely sand. Except it's humming, as if there were something below the sand.

She opens her mouth to say something but is stopped.

"Teleport!" The Doctor throws his arms up in the air as Peyton gets to her feet at Rory's side. "Oh, I hate teleports. Must have activated on my voice."

"Ah, yes, well, thank you? Arthur C. Clarke!" Brian fumes. "Teleport, obviously, I mean, we're on a spaceship, with dinosaurs, why wouldn't there be a teleport? In fact, why don't we just teleport right now?!" He storms off.

"Is he alright?" The Doctor asks.

"No, he hates travelling," Rory explains. "Makes him really anxious. He only goes to the paper shop and golf."

"What did you bring him for?"

"I didn't! Why can't you just phone ahead, like any normal person?"

"You're still expecting normal from him?" Peyton looks the Doctor up and down who pouts.

"Can somebody tell me where we are, now?" Brian says, making his way back to the three of them.

The Doctor sticks his tongue out as far as it could go. Peyton brings her hand up to her brow in distraction. "Well, it's not Earth. Doesn't taste right, too metallic."

"Is that a Kestral?" Brian points upwards where some screeching birds have appeared. Peyton doesn't pay them any mind.

"I do hope so?" The Doctor says happily.

"The beach is humming," Peyton remembers, clicking her fingers. "Almost forgot to mention."

"Is it?" The Doctor crouches, running his fingers through the sand. "Oh, yes! Right, well, don't just stand there, you three, dig!" He gets to his feet and brushes off his hands. "I'm going to look at rocks. Love a rock."

"I should probably supervise," Peyton pats Rory on the shoulder.

"Dig with what?" Rory yells as the Doctor wanders off.

"Ah, well!" Brian presents a small trowel, before squatting down and digging at the sand.

"Did you just have that on you?" Rory asks. Peyton on the other hand is quite impressed.

"Of course!" He says. "What sort of a man doesn't carry a trowel? Put it on your Christmas list."

"Dad, I'm thirty-one. I don't have a Christmas list anymore," Rory crouches down to his dad.

"I do!" The Doctor yells from afar. Rory gives him a thumbs-up,

"There's a floor beneath this beach," Brian looks up at the two time travellers beside him, tapping his trowel on a metal surface.

"Doctor!" Peyton calls, signalling Brian and Rory to follow.

"What is it?" The Doctor asks, turning to look at them.

"There's a floor, the beach is a fake," Rory says as they meet the Doctor by the base of the cliff.

"Ah, brilliant," he mutters, scanning his screwdriver along the rock.

"Are you really an alien?" Brian asks, turning to Peyton.

"Are we doing this now?" Rory complains.

"You mentioned it," she glares at him.

"But that's not possible, you were a little girl in the village," Brian insists. "You can't be from the future."

"Time travel," Peyton sighs, giving in. "I was born in 2008 but I travelled back in time to 1995 and got adopted."

"But, what about Lawrence and Teresa? Do they know?"

"No, and you can't tell them!" Peyton insists. "The first time I came out to them was weird enough, I don't need to tell them that their daughter is an alien too."

"Right, right, right," Brian nods as he watches the Doctor lick the rock face. "And is he your real dad then? Your alien dad?"

"No, no, no, no, no," Peyton laughs. "Definitely not."

"Ah, hah!" The Doctors exults as a rock panel moves to reveal a screen in the rock. "See! Metal floor, screens in rocks. It was just a short-range teleport."

"So we're still on the ship," Peyton nods, leaning in to get a better look at the screen.

"No, we're outside on a beach," Brian argues.

"No, it's part of the ship, Dad," Rory reasons.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Well, it is quite ridiculous, also brilliant. That's why the system teleported us here. I wanted the engines. This is the engine room!"

"Hydro-generators," Peyton says, looking back at the water.

"Hah, exactly," the Doctor lifts his hand up for a high-five. Peyton rolls her eyes as she meets him.

"I have literally no idea what they're saying," Brian says to Rory.

"A spaceship, powered by waves," Rory explains.

"Fabulously impossible," the Doctor throws an arm around both their shoulders. "Oh think of the things we could learn from this ship if we manage to stop it being blown to pieces."

"Plus, not dying," Rory mentions,

"Bad news is, can't shut the wave systems down in time," the Doctor says, turning around and looking to the sky. Peyton does the same. "Takes, takes way too long."

"Well, if these are the engines, there must be a control room," Rory says.

"Exactly," the Doctor says, turning back to Rory and Brian while Peyton's eyes stay glued to the sky's. That's when she sees it. Those aren't Kestrels. "That's what we need to find."

"But what do we do about the things that aren't Kestrels?" Peyton asks as she watches one begin to dive toward them.

The men turn around and look to the sky.

"Oh, lord," Rory murmurs.

"Are those pterodactyls?" Brian asks.

"Yes," the Doctor says. "On any other occasion, I'd be thrilled. Exposed on a beach, less thrilled."

"We should go," Peyton nods, ducking past them, trying to find any cover along the cliff. "Away from them."

"That's the plan?" Rory worries.

"Amendments welcome," Peyton spots back at him. "Let's just get away from the prehistoric death birds."

"I think they might be noticing," Rory says, his voice jumping up an octave as he looks up and sees more and more dinosaurs collecting.

"Amended plan," the Doctor offers. "Run!"

They dash across the rocks, as carefully as they can while running for their lives, the uneven and damp in parts surface makes the process incredibly uneasy.

"Can't we just teleport or something?" Brain asks.

"No, local teleports burned out on arrival," the Doctor says.

"Brilliant," Peyton yells in frustration until she spots a small cave, big enough for them and hopefully not the pterodactyls. "There's an opening in the cliffs over there!"

"Come on, run!" Rory shouts.

"I'm trying!" Brain yells back.

Peyton ducks into the small opening, the Doctor right behind her. She skids to a halt and turns just in time to see Rory pulling his dad inside too.

"Are you alright?" Brian asks as Rory doubles over, panting.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he waves him off.

"What do we do now?" Brian looks up to the Doctor and Peyton.

"There's no way back out there," Peyton nods toward the beach were the pterodactyls still circle overhead and swoop down over so often.

"Through the cave, come on," the Doctor says. Peyton looks up, it's definitely artificially constructed, proper stairs have been carved into the rock but whoever owns this ship.

A loud bang halts the Doctor just as he reaches the stairs. It sounded as if it was coming from within the cliffs. "That suggestion was a work in progress."

"We're trapped?" Brian pants.

"Yes, thanks for spelling it out," the Doctor says sarcastically.

"Doctor, whatever's down there is coming this way," Rory warns.

"Spelling it out is hereditary, wonderful," the Doctor sighs.

"It's getting closer," Peyton shivers as the sound of banging gets louder.

The Doctor steps down from the stairs and carefully treads backward toward the three others. Peyton takes this as a suggestion to do the same, eyes fixed on the tunnel ahead.

The banging stops as two large robots come into sight, they remind Peyton of a rip off Transformer, definitely run down.

"We're very cross with you," one of them says.

Peyton looks to the Doctor and Rory who both look equally confused.

• • •

"You're going straight on the naughty step," one of the robots chides as they march the four intruders through the ship, still just as overgrown and out of shape as the rest of it.

"What's the escape plan?" Brian whispers in between Peyton and the Doctor.

"Why do we want to escape?" The Doctor replies.

"They have us hostage?" Brain narrows his eyes.

"They're taking us somewhere. We might learn from it," Rory explains through gritted teeth.

"Aw," the Doctor coos, grabbing Rory's cheek. "You see? So clever. I missed you, Rory!"

"Don't do that."

Peyton laughs at Rory's discomfort and receives an angry finger point in return.

"But what if they kill us?" Brian frets.

"They won't," Peyton reassures him. "Rule twelve; don't kill your hostages."

Brain mouths the word twelve in confusion as the Doctor spins around,

"She's right. You aren't going to kill us now, are you, Rusty?" The Doctor reaches up to pat one of the robots on the shoulder.

"Who are you calling Rusty?" The other objects.

"Have you seen yourself lately?" The Doctor mocks.

"You try being on this ship for two millennia, see how _your_ paintwork does!"

"Don't listen to him, he's just being mean because we captured him," the first robot says.

"Oh my goodness," Brian gasps, tearing Peyton's attention away from the rather amusing robots to wherever he's pointing.

"Ooh, lovely," the Doctor smiles as they spot the huge Triceratops approaching.

Brian grabs Peyton's arm and she laughs lightly. "Herbivore, Brian, don't panic. Triceratops."

"Ha! Beautiful!" The Doctor explains, patting his knees in delight as Brian slowly lets go of Peyton's arm.

"Shall I shoot it?" One of the robots asks.

"We're not supposed to shoot the creatures, stupid!" The other chastises.

The Triceratops roars, sending a gust of dinosaur breath in the direction of the intruders which Peyton certainly find less endearing than the Doctor does.

"Stop calling me stupid!"

"Rargh yourself," the Doctor chuckles, crouching down to stroke its nose. "Hello, cutie-pie. Who's a lovely Tricey then, eh? Yes, you are."

Peyton reaches out with a curious smile, running her palm along the cool skin of the beast.

"What do I do, what do I do?" Brian yelps as the dinosaur sniffs him eagerly. "What's it doing?"

"You don't have any vegetable matter in your trousers, do you, Brian?" The Doctor asks, standing up.

"Only my balls."

Rory slaps a hand to his face in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry?" Peyton frowns.

"Golf balls," Brian reiterates, pulling them from his pocket. "Grassy residue."

"What are you carrying those around for?" Rory asks in a shrill voice.

The Triceratops bounces its weight around excitedly before lifting fits head up to drag its large and dripping tongue across Brian's face.

Peyton holds in a laugh. The thing is just an oversized puppy dog!

Brian though was less than impressed, letting out a disgusted and slightly scared groan.

"Oh, bless," the Doctor smirks.

"Get it away from me!"

"Throw one," Peyton suggests.

"Really? Is this want you want? Is it?"

Brian raises his arm above his head and throws the golf ball as hard as he can muster. The Triceratops turns around, watching it fly through the air before excitedly running after it.

"And breathe out," Peyton pats Brian on the back as he doubles over in relief.

"Right," the Doctor turns back to the robots. "Take us to your leader."

"Really?" Rory says with a raised eyebrow as they start walking again.

"Too good to resist."

• • •

"Love what you've done with the place down here," the Doctor says as they reach a new part of the ship, this one less accessible to the dinosaurs with lower ceilings and tighter hallways. It is also slightly less overrun by plants and cobwebs, slightly.

"Let him in," a voice calls from beyond a metal gate.

It opens just in time for the Doctor to step through. He turns quickly to his companions who have the same worried expression on their faces.

"It's okay," the Doctor says softly. "I'll be right back, Rory's in charge."

"Hey!" Peyton folds her arms.

"I'm the eldest," Rory says smugly, quiet enough so only she and the Doctor could hear it, not wanting his father asking questions.

The Doctor gives them a wink before turning around and heading off into the corridor.

"He's not interested in you," one of the robots sneer.

"Look," Rory marches up to it. "You need to learn some manners."

"No, _you_ need to learn some manners," it counters.

"No, you do," Rory prods it with his finger.

"No, you do, Mr Manners!" The other robot backs up its friend.

With one last glare at the robots, Rory turns back to his dad and Peyton.

"You know," Peyton laughs, impressed with his bravado today. "With each day that goes by I realise I should have married you."

Rory rolls his eyes at that, knowing she's only joking.

"You two used to have a pact when you were kids, didn't you?" Brian recalls, looking between Peyton and Rory and the robots wearily. "That if neither of you got married by a certain age, you'd marry each other. Good thing you didn't though, I don't think I'd want alien grandchildren." Peyton laughs, having completely forgotten that memory. Rory's hand raises to his face to rub his temples. 

"I had forgotten about that," he groans. 

"Lucky for both of us, he somehow convinced Amy to put up with him," Peyton jests, Rory gives her a mock-offended glare.

Silence falls and the creaking and whirring sounds of the spaceship and their robot guards dominates their minds. 

"So what do we do now?" Brian asks, looking back to the corridor where the Doctor disappeared.

"We wait for the Doctor until he comes back, or gets himself killed," Peyton places a hand on his shoulder, making him look back at her. "In case of scenario B, which _probably_ won't happen, I'll hastily prompt you to run."

Rory hits her in the bicep with the back of his fit for visibly frightening his father again. She shrugs in apology.

A P.A. crackles to life. "Injure the older one," the gruff voice that summoned the Doctor just a minute earlier orders.

"Uh, what?" Rory stammers as one of the robots raises its arm in the direction of Brian.

With a flash of sparks, Brian is knocked back to the floor. Peyton and Rory swiftly drop to beside him.

"Dad! Dad!" Rory shouts, with Peyton's help pulling him upright to sit against the wall. "It's all right, Dad, it's okay, it's okay."

As Rory takes his father's pulse, Peyton watches Brian's eyes flicker open and he groans, still conscious then? Her eyes fall on a burn mark in his vest at his shoulder.

Rory fumbles with Brian's shirt buttons while Peyton reaches for his hand, trying to keep him calm.

He reveals the wound, a dark burn seared into his skin, about the size of a pound coin.

"I will take you apart cog by cog and melt you dow when this is all over," Rory threatens, turning to the robots.

"Oh, I'm so scared," one of them raises its arms. "Actually, I might be. A little bit of oil just came out."

"Shut it, cogsy," Peyton pats Rory's back, glaring up at it. She turns her head to Rory. "Do you think it's still a bit late to get married?"

"Stay still," Rory instructs Brian, ignoring his best friend. "It's just a burn, it's nothing serious."

Rory pulls his hands away, leaving Brian to hold his shirt open with his free hand.

From his pocket, he presents a small wallet.

"What's that?" He asks.

"While you carry a trowel, I carry a med-pack. It's all about the pockets in our family. This is an ice patch, it cools the skin," Rory explains pulling out a small blue square.

"Never seen one of those," Brian notes.

"Yeah, I look out for cool stuff wherever we go," Rory nods. "For some people, it's cars and hardware, for me, it is nursing supplies."

Brian groans as Rory applies the patch.

"Now, painkiller," Rory says, holding a tiny syringe. "Now this won't hurt," he lies, Peyton knows fully well about his little tiny syringe, he had had to administer it to her quite a few times during their adventures.

"Ow!" Brian cries out as Rory stabs him with it.

"He lied," Peyton deadpans. "It won't hurt from now on though."

"Alright, you're done," Rory says, pulling up Brian's shirt.

"Thanks," Brian smiles at him as Peyton moves to sit next to him, leaning against the wall, folding her legs and resting her hands in her lap.

"S'all right. You get to see my awesome nursing skills in action for once."

The trill of Rory's phone ringing breaks up the cute father-son bonding moment that was happening.

"What's that?" One of the robots asks.

"Your phone's ringing. In space!" Brian frowns as Rory pushes himself to his feet, putting his medical pouch away and retrieving his phone.

"You get used to it," Peyton pats his knee.

"Have to take this," Rory glares up at the robots. "The wife. Hello, missus."

Peyton's glad that Amy is still alive to call her husband, but only hearing one side of a conversation is always difficult.

"Uh, still on board," Rory answers a question. "Met some pterodactyls and some rusty robots that I'm going to _melt down_."

The robots do not like that.

"It's a what?" Rory gasps. Peyton scrambles to her feet, motioning for Rory to tell her what Any said. He pulls the phone away from his ear for a second. "It's a Silurian ship."

"Explains how they got the dinosaurs," Peyton hums.

"Doctor," Rory calls after listening to something his wife says. "It's Amy." He holds the phone out to the barred gate.

The Doctor comes into sight quickly, plucking the phone from his hand. "Amy?"

He wanders back to whatever is keeping him briefly before returning, handing the phone back and looking between Rory and Peyton.

"Be ready," he whispers. They both nod.

Peyton looks down to Brian carefully. 'Be ready' usually means running and she just hopes he would be up for it.

A minute or two passes in relative silence, Rory checks up on his father briefly before the Doctor saunters out of the room.

"Well, don't just stand there, you two," he says, poking both Rory and Peyton in the biceps. "Tin can one and two, he wants to see you."

"Dad, up!" Rory rushes as the Doctor walks off, Peyton quick to follow as the he speeds his pace up to a run.

Back through the ship they go until they skid to a halt upon meeting the backside of the Triceratops.

The Doctor speeds off toward it confidently.

"What are we doing?" Brian calls.

"Just do exactly as I do!" He calls back.

"Doctor, no!" Rory yells as they watch the Doctor swiftly scale a pile of crates next to the dinosaur.

"Geronimo!" He exclaims as he throws himself into the Triceratops, straddling its back.

The beast roars in surprise.

He turns and waved back at the group who all stare at him, wide-eyed.

"This is going to end badly," Peyton mutters as she gathers the confidence to run after him.

She jumps up the crates and with a grunt, throws herself over the dinosaur, wrapping her arms around the Doctor instinctively.

Sitting atop a dinosaur was something she never dreamed of. She laughs to herself.

"I'm going to need my arms, Peyton," the Doctor says softly.

"Sorry," she leans back from the Doctor.

Rory hops on behind her and Brian behind him shortly.

"Run like the wind, Tricey!" The Doctor cries. The dinosaur, however, doesn't seem in the mood, grunting a little.

All too soon, laser bolts start shooting past them, causing Peyton to instinctively duck.

"How do you start a triceratops?" Peyton screams.

The stamping of the robots is getting closer and so are their annoying voices.

"Tricey," Brian calls. "Fetch!"

A golf ball flies past Peyton's ear and the triceratops roars in delight before trotting off after it.

The sudden and violent movement makes Peyton slip forward and grab the Doctor's waist for fear of falling off and she feels Rory grab her for his own stability.

"Yee-haw!" The Doctors shrieks.

As she gets used to it, Peyton can't help but let out a laugh. She's riding a dinosaur in outer space while being chased by robots. How on earth does she ever go back to her office?

"Come on, Tricey!" The Doctor shouts as the lasers still persistently follow them. "Faster, baby!"

"I'm riding a dinosaur!" Brian exclaims. "On a spaceship!"

"I know!" The Doctor whoops.

"I only came round to fix your light."

As the triceratops begins heading at full speed toward an upcoming wall, Peyton's elated joy trickles away quickly.

"Where are the breaks?" The Doctor yells.

The Triceratops begins to skid toward the wall, the sudden change in speed throws its passengers to the floor.

Peyton groans as she practically can feel bruises forming along her side where she hit the ground.

The dinosaur pads around a bit before getting bored and trotting away, leaving the four of them panting on the floor.

"Good, that worked," the Doctor says, getting to his feet while Peyton, Rory, and Brian work on sitting up. "Okay, where are we now? Ooh."

Peyton stumbles to her feet as the Doctor spies a monitor on the wall.

"Incoming message from Earth," he says. Peyton had almost forgotten about the missiles. How long had it been?" "Hello, Earth! How are things?"

Captain Indira's face fills the monitor. "Doctor, the ship's coming through the atmosphere. I have to start the missile program."

"No, no, no, no, don't do that," the Doctor pleads. "Everything's completely under control here, turning around any moment. Need a bit of wiggle room on the timings-"

"I can't do that," she insists.

"You can't, of course, you can't," the Doctor reasons. "Tiny bit more time, Indira, please. This ship contains the most precious cargo."

"My only responsibility is the Earth's safety," she reiterates. "I'm launching the missiles. Goodbye, Doctor."

"No, Indira! He shouts as her image disappears. "Hey, come back! Please!"

"How long does it take for a missile to get here?" Peyton asks.

"Uh," the Doctor pulls up an image of Earth on the screen. "Thirty minutes."

"So, not good," Rory stresses.

"That's very bad indeed," he starts to pace. "Completely unhelpful."

"Doesn't this ship have any defence systems installed?" Rory asks, inspecting the screens

"Good thinking, Rory!" The Doctor shouts, running back over to him and the monitor. The Doctor grabs Rory's face in both his hands and kisses him hard on the mouth before releasing him just as quick to prod at the systems.

Peyton doubles over as she laughs at Rory's disgusted face. He is so shocked by the kiss he seemingly short circuits for a moment, Peyton places a hand on his back just to make sure he doesn't keel over.

"Computer, show us weapons and defence systems," the Doctor orders

The all-capital NO SYSTEMS AVAILABLE only makes Peyton feel even worse.

"Well that was a waste of time, wasn't it?" The Doctor groans turning back to Rory and slapping his cheeks back and forth. "Getting my hopes up like that."

"What ship doesn't have weapons?" Peyton asks, pulling Rory back by his collar and placing herself in between him and the Doctor.

"The ancient species, Peyton, still full of hope," he sighs.

"What about the control deck?" Brian speaks up. "You said we should go to the control deck next."

The three time travellers turn to look at Brian, still standing in the middle of the room.

"It's too late, it won't make any difference," the Doctor says storming off.

"We could at least try," Rory calls as he walks after him.

"It won't work, Rory," the Doctor counters, spinning around to look him in the eye. "The missiles are locked on."

"So, what?" Peyton strides up to them, arms folded in front of her chest. "We're just giving up?"

"I don't know," the Doctor looks to the floor. Peyton, Rory, and Brian look between each other and then back to the Doctor, hoping he'll come up with something, anything. "I don't know!"

A flash of light as the buzz of an electrical pulse grabs their attention.

"You were telling the truth, Doctor," a decrepit looking man says, flanked by his two robots. "Earth has launched missiles. This vessel is too clumsy to outrun them, but I have my own ship."

"You won't get your precious cargo on board, though," the Doctor says. "It'll just be you and your metal tantrum machines."

"We do not have tantrums!" One of the robots says, throwing a tantrum.

"Shut up!" The man orders. He uses a twisted piece of metal as a cane as he steps forward toward the Doctor. "You're right, Doctor. I can't keep the dinosaurs and live myself. But I had the IV system scan the entire ship and it found something even more valuable. Utterly unique. I don't know where you found it, or how you got it here, but I want it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Doctor lies in a grave tone of voice. It was obvious. The Tardis; Time Lord tech.

"Earth Queen Nefertiti of Egypt."

Well, Peyton wasn't expecting that.

"A face stamped across history. Giver her to me and I'll let the rest of you live."

The Doctor leans in close to the tyrant, bending slightly to account for their height difference. "No," he utters.

"You think I won't punish those who get in my way? Whatever their worth?"

One of the robots steps forward and turns. Peyton turns her head to look at where it's attention is focused. Peyton raises her hand to her mouth just as several blasts of red light are shot from the robot's weapon, striking the Triceratops sitting idly square in the face.

It roars in pain, slumping onto its side. Whoever this old crone is, he's in for it now.

The Doctor and Peyton simultaneously pad over to the creature, crouching down on either side of its enormous head. Peyton runs a hand down its nose as it pants beneath her.

She watches its eye slowly closes as the life leaves its body painfully

She doesn't realise that the Doctor has gotten to his feet until he starts slowly clapping, walking back to face the crooked man once more.

"You must be very proud," he seethes.

"Bring her to me or the robots will make their way through your corpses. Bring her, now."

"No."

Peyton gets up and moves back toward Brian and Rory slowly, imagining that they are going to need to run very soon.

Another crack of light signalling teleportation flashes behind them. Peyton spins to see Amy, Riddell, and Nefertiti all holding large guns, staring down the tyrant.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor whispers.

"I demanded to be brought here," Nefertiti says, walking toward the man and his robots.

"No, no, no, no, no way," the Doctor moves to block her but her eyes stay fixed on her soon to be captor.

"It isn't your choice, Doctor. It's mine."

"Listen to me," he says. "If you go with him, I can't guarantee your safety."

"You saved my people. I am in your debt," she replies.

"No. No debts, you don't owe me anything," he grabs her arm.

"Then I do it of my own will," she tears herself away from him and marches toward the crook.

"No!" Riddell protests, cocking his gun. "Take her, I shoot you."

"Put your weapon down," Nefertiti orders. "Let me make my choice."

"Do it, boy," the man sneers. One of his robots steps forward threateningly.

Riddell lowers the gun reluctantly and the man smiles cruelly. "My bounty increases. And what an extraordinary bounty you are."

"Never touch me," she spits as he raises a hand up to her face.

With one quick movement, surprising for a man of his state, he pins her to the wall with his cane pressed against her throat. She stares him down with all the dignity of the mighty queen she is.

"8 like my possession to have spirit," he snickers. "It means I can have fun breaking them." He lowers the cane. "And I will break you in with immense pleasure. Thank you, Doctor. Computer? Take us back to my ship."

And with a flash of light, they're gone.

Before Peyton can get a word out, an alarm starts blaring.

_"Hostile targeting in process. Hostile targeting in process. Hostile targeting in progress."_

"Bingo," the Doctor whispers, just audible to his companions over the continued blaring of the alarm.

"What is it? Doctor?"

• • •

"Okay, control deck," the Doctor says as the six of them are teleported into a new part of the ship. He lunges forward and pulls a cover off a central short pillar, how Peyton assumes once flew the ship.

"So, what's the plan?" She asks, peering down it too. She notices Amy and Riddell slip out the door, taking a defensive position.

"Come on. The missiles are locked into us, we can't outrun them, we have to save the dinosaurs and get Nefertiti back from Solomon. Isn't it obvious?"

"It's sort of the opposite of obvious," Rory chimes in.

"Seventeen minutes before the missiles hit. We need to turn this ship around," he pulls out his sonic screwdriver and begins poking at wiring.

"You said it was too late," Peyton reminds him. "There wasn't any time."

"Ah, yes, but I didn't have this plan then, did I?" The Doctors remarks. "Riddell? Keep and eye out for dinosaurs."

"I was rather hoping you'd say that," he calls back from the doorway.

"No killing any," the Doctor adds. "Rory, Brian, get rid of the cobwebs. Peyton at the controls, scan for foreign vehicles on board and magnetise them."

Peyton nods, rushing forward and using her sonic pen to bring the display to life. Not really sure where to start, she scans for non Silurian crafts, for which two results appear, and she locks onto the one showing heat signals as if powering up.

"Not today, creep," she mutters under her breath as the blue light from her pen illuminates the screen, locking him in.

• • •

"No, don't be like that! Really unhelpful," the Doctor groans, giving up on fiddling with something.

"What's the matter?" Peyton asks.

"Parallel pilot compartments, bio-configured. Needs two operators of the same gene chain," he explains. "That's why Solomon couldn't change the ship's course and neither can we."

Brian puts his hand up to which the Doctor frowns. "What?"

"We can," Brian says.

Peyton can't help but smile. It's genius, it might even work.

"Me and Rory," he says, however his son shakes his head. "We must be the same gene thingy you just said."

"Brian Pond," the Doctor Ryan up to him, grabbing him by both shoulders. "You are delicious."

"I'm not a Pond," he ignores the whole 'delicious' comment, Peyton isn't sure she can.

"Course you are," the Doctor spins away from him. "Sit down, both of you, licketty split. The ship does all the engineering, the controls are straightforward, even a monkey could use them, oh look, they're going to."

The Doctor beams around the room but no one laughs as Rory and Brian sit in opposite chairs.

"Guys, come on, comedy gold," he rolls his eyes. "Where's a silurian audience when you need one?" He marches past them, moving on swiftly. "Anyway, two eye-line screens: velocity and trajectory. Steer away from the Earth, try not to bump into the moon otherwise the races who live there will be livid."

"What?" Brian blinks.

Rory shrugs, silently telling him not to worry about it.

"Primary controls in the arms of the chairs," he continues. "Principle is the same as any vehicle. Eight minutes, forty-five seconds. Peyton, I hope you're taking notes."

He points his sonic at each chair in turn and Amy who had left Riddell on his own, snickers beside her.

"Does he really quiz you?"

"He tried to once," she sighs as the monitors of the Williams' seats light up. 

"Get us as far away as you can."

_• • •_

"So, dinosaur drop off time," the Doctor says as they march up to the Tardis.

"Actually, I think home for us," Rory says.

"Oh," he pauses. "Fine, of course."

"Not forever. Just a couple of months," Amy adds.

"Right, yes, we're pretty busy anyway," he motions between himself and Peyton. "I mean, we've got to drop everyone back."

"About that," Brian speaks up. "Can I ask a favour? There's something I want to see."


	32. The Day We Break the Canon

**today i present to you, an alternative universe chapter of our tale. i love sherlock, as many people who love doctor who do, and I love sherlock aus with the doctor who universe but for the purposes of this story, it is already established that arthur conan doyle and the sherlock stories exist within the universe so of course, the bbc sherlock would just be a tv show in canon. but today we diverge from our story and i give you this, please keep in mind that this is not canon and just a bit of fun as well as a bit more insight into peyton's job and life between the doctor. you don't really have to enjoy sherlock to enjoy this chapter really, its just a bit of fun. enjoy.**

"You will never guess who came into work today," Rory says as he enters the Pond's kitchen where his wife and best friend are sitting on the countertop drinking tea and eating the chocolate chip cookies they baked earlier.

"If it was the Doctor, you're fired for not calling us immediately," Amy says after gulping down a mouthful of tea quickly.

"First of all, you can't fire me, we're married," Rory rolls his eyes, setting his bag down and shrugging off his coat, leaving him in his pale blue scrubs. "And no, it wasn't the Doctor."

"Then who?" Peyton sighs, jumping off the countertop to lean against it instead.

"Doctor John Watson," Rory smiles widely. "You know, that man Sherlock Holmes' assistant. They've been all over the news lately, stopping bombings, remember when that guy, what was his name, tried to steal the crown jewels? They stopped him!"

"And didn't he jump off a building to prove a point?" Amy added. "Tall dark detective, mysterious too. I like him."

"Do you know what he was doing at your hospital?" Peyton ignores Amy.

"No, nothing funny had come in, he was just, talking to people. He even said hello to me, told me to call him if I saw anything suspicious. Oh, and we had some small talk, hospital stuff, I told him we travel a lot."

"Don't you know his brother?" Amy asks Peyton through a mouth full of biscuit. "The other Holmes. Something with an M? Michael? No, that's not right."

Peyton pulls out her phone and immediately opens her browser and logs into the U.N.I.T news reports. If something odd had happened, they'd know about it. However, Peyton's search ended quickly, turning up nothing that would link to the hospital where Rory works.

"Weird, well, I'm sure we'll soon see on the news," Amy says, hopping off the counter and grabbing the last cookie from the pile just as Peyton was about to grab it. She walks over to her husband before giving him a peck on the lips.

Peyton rolls her eyes as Amy lifts the cookie to Rory's mouth who takes it with a cheeky smile.

• • •

They didn't see anything on the news that night, nor the next. In fact, the three soon forgot about Dr Watson's visit and life continued on it's slow and steady pace as it always did when the Doctor wasn't around.

Peyton walks through the Tower Hill underground station with her eyes gazing down at her phone on the way to work. Most people tended to steer clear of the men and women in smart suits with their head buried in their phones or newspapers during the morning rushes so she never felt compelled to dodge around people. She knew the route well enough to do so without looking up anyway.

But on this particular day, she was interrupted by someone bumping into her.

"I'm very sorry, miss," the man says as she stumbles, dropping her phone and oyster card into the tiled floor. He picks them up and hands them to her, both of them dodging out of the way of the wave of passengers leaving the station.

Peyton gets a look of this man's face and realises that it's him, Dr Watson. Her brain kicks into overdrive, following the Doctor's rule of never ignoring a coincidence. First Rory, now her.

"I've seen your face before, what was your name," he frowns.

"Peyton Barrett, and I don't need to ask yours," she replies curtly. He chuckles at that.

"That's it, you're in charge of, what was it, alien foreign affairs? We met, briefly, well, I say met. I've got some connections. "

"To put it simply, yes," Peyton nods. "And that would be the elder of the Holmes brothers, right?"

She dislikes that man very much. He was very interested in her work actually, always wanting to be the first to know about anything that was happening in her sphere. But it was the way he acted as if he was the smartest person in the room. Peyton had to keep herself quiet and her temper in check as he explained to her things she already knew. She was supposed to be smart, but only a few people on the planet were cleared to know about her identity and Mycroft Holmes wasn't one of them, at her request specifically.

"From your expression, I can tell you've had just as much pleasure from interacting with him as I have," he laughed hastily.

"Are you investigating me?" she blurts out. She didn't mean to, it was just his patterns were similar to what she would employ when with the Doctor, trying to infiltrate somewhere or someone. Get chummy with lower down people and then work her way up. Textbook. "Because, if you're not, I have to be in my office in ten minutes but honestly, I wouldn't mind skiving off. They're pretty lax with me disappearing when there isn't some meeting with whichever political leader or any alien incursions."

Dr Watson stood stunned for a second, he's about an inch shorter than the blonde-haired girl and he stares up at her amazed. "Right, uh, yeah. Would you mind?"

"Not at all," Peyton smiles, dropping the suave demeanour she was fronting. "Always wanted to meet the great detective."

Dr Watson huffs. "Good luck with that."

"Baker Street? I assume," Peyton turns on her heel and heads back toward the trains, mapping out the fastest route in her head.

• • •

Stepping into the flat was, underwhelming, to say the least. The places is a mess; papers and photographs everywhere. Dr Watson leads her to the centre of the room before pulling out a chair from the desk by the wall, lifting a file from it onto the stack.

"Sorry about the state of the place," he says as he places the chair in front of the two mismatched armchairs. "Now that I'm not here, he lets the place go a bit."

Peyton shakes her head, indicating that it's no trouble as she sits, her hands reaching into her pocket where her phone, keys, and sonic pen sit.

"Sherlock, we have a visitor," John calls down the hall before turning back to his guest. "Would you like tea?"

"Milk, one sugar please," Peyton smiles gratefully as he disappears into the kitchen.

She takes the opportunity to take a look around the place, leaning back into the chair. On the wall behind her, photos and papers are pinned to the wall, string connecting several of them. A real Sherlock Holmes investigation, and she was going to be a part of it.

Scanning the images from her seat, her above-average eyesight immediately saw the connected figure in each of the images. The Doctor. They're investigating the Doctor. Peyton can even spot herself in some of these images, Amy and Rory too. Some were grabbed from CCTV footage and others were old photographs, dug from some corner of the internet, like the one with the four of their mug shots from 1969.

Peyton realises at this point that she should have thought this through a little more, what could they possibly want from the Doctor?

"Miss Barrett," a curt and deep voice grabs her attention and Peyton whips her head around to see the great detective himself, emerging from the doorway, buttoning his blazer.

"Mr Holmes," Peyton says, getting to her feet and reaching out her hand to shake his.

As he takes it, Peyton notices him look her up and down and she smiles a little. She's heard about his little trick. She wonders how much he could possibly pry from her.

"Glad you could join us," John says somewhat curtly as he re-emerges with tea as Sherlock and Peyton both fall back into their respective seats. He offers Peyton a lovely china cup before retreating to the kitchen to grab two more, he must have already known Sherlock would ask.

"So may I ask, why you're investigating my friends and I?" Peyton asks.

"I saw you looking at my photographs just before," Sherlock nods to the wall. "I'm sure you have an explanation why there are photos of you dated 1910, '56, '69, 2000 and the last five years. All appearing the same age."

"Lookalikes, I imagine," Peyton lies, smiling innocently. "How old do you assume I am? You can't be insinuating I'm over a hundred."

"Your birth records suggest you're twenty-five but from the way you carry yourself and the wrinkling around your eyes I would say you're older than you look or the record says."

"Oh, is that the thing?" Peyton shuffles excitedly. "How do you do that?"

"I observe," he says through gritted teeth. "Did you know you engage in small talk when your avoiding questions or otherwise nervous?"

"I've been told, yes," Peyton nods.

"So, you know this man, yes?" Dr Watson asks, pulling out a picture of the Doctor caught on a security camera. "You can be clearly seen in several accounts with him as well as Nurse Williams and his wife."

"Yeah, he's an old friend," Peyton agrees, mentally sorting which information to tell them. "Amy and Rory and I grew up together and I met him through... my dad."

"Your biological father that is," Sherlock confirms.

"Yeah, he knew him," Peyton says, deciding saying that they were friends would not be wise, the Doctor appearing not too much older than her.

"Your biological father which we have failed to find any record of," Sherlock adds. "He's not even on your birth certificate."

"Teen mum," she shrugs. "You know."

"So this friend of yours, knew your father as an infant and has appeared in many images and photographs from impossible years and has been cited in many more documents from, oh, where to start. Elizabeth the first?"

"What he gets up to in his spare time is none of my business," Peyton shrugs coyly.

Sherlock stares at her for a moment, as if trying to pry more information out of her. She meets his gaze, smiling sweetly. This might just be worth the lecture from her boss.

"Peyton, could you tell us how you got your job at U.N.I.T.?" Dr Watson asks. "Girl from a small village in the middle of nowhere, to one of the most influential positions in the world?"

"You flatter me," Peyton laughs. "It's simple really, I'm sure if you've been digging into me you've seen my academic records, I was scouted."

"Yes, but for a job like that one would imagine other criteria apply," Sherlock butts in. "Experience, for example."

"I happened to be in town during a couple of bad things happening. The adipose incident, the Christmas where half the world was about to jump off buildings. And like I said, I'm older than I look."

Neither of them says anything. Peyton takes another sip of tea before sighing. "Could I ask exactly what you're investigating? I may be able to help but on the condition that I know what you're planning to do with the information."

"I just need to know," Sherlock explodes. "Jumping from his seat and walking over to the wall. "This man, the Doctor they call him, he's everywhere in history, he's all across places he should be. He's tangled in your U.N.I.T. investigations and he's got political connections that rival most world leaders."

"I don't think you need to worry about Mr Churchill," Peyton says as she watches him rip off and look at a picture of the Doctor next to the old prime minister.

"What do you want," Sherlock changes his tone, walking toward her slowly. "Is he threatening you against talking? Is he dangerous?"

"Sherlock," John chastises as he towers over Peyton.

The tall man backs off as he is told and throws himself down into his armchair again.

"So, it's just a curiosity thing then?" Peyton says slowly. "You're not doing this on behalf of anyone?"

"I can't stand not knowing," Sherlock says lowly, looking over to his wall. "And I can't stand things not making sense."

"I'll have to talk with my people then," Peyton says placing the mug of tea down on the coffee table and leaning forward on her elbows. She watches Sherlock's face transform from the dark frown to wild-eyed confusion. "He is my friend and I value his privacy, but beyond that, his identity is a government need-to-know basis and I might be able to pull a few strings."

"So he's on record?" John asks. "He's got a birth certificate, passport. He exists?"

"Well..." Peyton smiles. "He's an asset to the crown and country."

"So he does know something, lying git," Sherlock spits.

"Uh, Miss Barrett mentioned knowing your brother actually," John says, clarifying to Peyton who Sherlock is silently fuming at.

"Yeah, punctual... blunt," Peyton nods with a disdainful face. "Oh, and just Peyton is fine."

Sherlock nods, placing his hands beneath his nose in a steeple sort of shape.

"I hope it's not imprudent of me to ask," Peyton says nervously. "But I've heard so much about your abilities, Mr Holmes, and I would love to know what you read of me, just so we're on equal footing if we're going to proceed with this."

"What does proceeding with this mean on my end, I assume you have terms?" Sherlock raises an eyebrow.

"I don't need money," Peyton says. "I'm not looking for anything from you. All I ask is that you stop investigating into Mr and Mrs Williams, you won't get anything out of them beside a broken nose from Amy. You don't need them."

"You're right," Sherlock says, causing Peyton to frown. "Your school records indicate you have above-average intelligence but you stayed in Leadworth despite many opportunities to study in London. Your IQ was tested during your teen years and you scored on hundred and eighty, that is extraordinary, but news like that would spread, especially coming from a small village. Perhaps you didn't want to leave your family or friends, understandable as you were a child. But more interesting is that this whole interview, you have been sitting comfortably as if you believe you're in charge of perhaps your know more than me, but your IQ suggests that you aren't a pompous moron and actually do know more than you're letting on. When I shook your hand, however, I felt your pulse, it was very fast suggesting anxiety or concern. Your eyes have been constantly looking around at your surroundings and toward the door, you're observant as well as used to calculating escape routes from sour situations. You keep your clothes folded and iron them the night before from the creases in the sleeves of your shirt, ready to pack. You only get between four and five hours of sleep per night but it doesn't show on your face, you don't need it. It does show however in your posture. You're protecting this man's identify, not just because it is your job or duty, you wouldn't have offered to pull any strings if that were the case, instead of knowing it was just simple curiosity made you because open with sharing it, meaning he is most definitely a friend. Lover? No, he's absent a lot and from the cuffs on your pants even when In business attire, I'd wager he's not your type. You're comfortable under pressure and your on guard and analytical when confronted. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

Peyton smiles widely before turning to Dr Watson. "Oh, he's very good." He simply nods absentmindedly.

"Was I mistaken about anything?"

Peyton pauses before replying. "Mostly. I had the IQ test invalidated because I didn't want to be shipped off to some pretentious boarding school. I might have to take the test again because I'll admit I did get a few questions purposefully wrong, I thought that would be enough to get it down to normal, but apparently not. As for the pulse... I have high blood pressure."

Sherlock's eyes widened madly as she mentioned getting a few questions wrong. Which made her chuckle.

"So will that be all?" She smiles contently.

"Thank you, Peyton," John says, eyeing his partner who is quiet.

"Yes, can I assume you'll be in touch?" Sherlock asks.

"Dr Watson gave my friend his number so I'll call when I'm able to see what I can do," Peyton stands to her feet. "It really was a pleasure to meet you both."

• • •

Two days later, Peyton is sitting behind her desk at U.N.I.T. headquarters, writing out an email to the newly elected Swedish Prime Minister when someone knocks at her door.

"Come in," she calls, pressing a button to send her desktop to sleep. She is surprised when she looks up and sees Mycroft Holmes standing in her doorway.

"Miss Barrett," he smiles.

"Me Holmes," she nods, her mood immediately turning grey.

He lets himself in and sits in the armchair in front of her desk. She wonders if he knows about her interview with his brother. From what she's heard and seen, Mycroft Holmes is a very influential man with contacts everywhere.

"I have been notified you made a visit to two hundred and twenty-one, B, Baker Street," he says.

"I was invited," Peyton folds her arms on the desk and staring him down. "I'm not sure how it is your business.

"Sherlock Holmes collects obsessions, his latest is the Doctor. As per protocol, he is a civilian and has not got the clearance to our files on him."

"But your files are inaccurate and full of holes anyway,," Peyton smiles prettily. "I personally don't see the harm in satisfying his curiosity."

Mr Holmes does not like that. "The Doctor is a person of great concern and use to the British government and it is none of my brother's concerned."

"Well, the Doctor is my friend and I imagine the two would get along rather well, so what is the harm in just introducing them?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Miss Barrett, I warn you that my limits are not to be pushed, everyone is replaceable," he threatens.

"I think you'll find I'm the exception to that rule," she sneers back at him. "I know that you are aware there is a level of U.N.I.T. archives that even you do not have clearance for. You, Mr Holmes, May be running the rest of the British government but we do things differently here."

"I am also aware that yours is the only staff record kept in this highest layer of information, one might be suspicious as to why that is?"

Peyton shrugged with a knowing smile. "A need-to-know basis I'm afraid, Mr Holmes. Was there anything else you wanted?"

"Do not let Sherlock Holmes near the Doctor," Mycroft orders, standing to his feet. "Not just for my sanity and the _ruddy_ protocol, for his safety."

"You know he's an adult, right?" Peyton rolls her eyes. "He can make his own decisions and I can decide whether or not to clear him." She watches as Mr Holmes turns to leave, she waits until he reaches her doorway before speaking again. "Oh, and Mr Holmes?"

He turns back to her with an unenthused expression.

"You are not cleared to give me orders, but you can schedule a meeting with the three people who can if you are really that concerned."

With a scowl, the elder Holmes leaves the room and a pleased smile on Peyton's face.

• • •

"You know", Peyton says through a mouthful of popcorn. "There is actually a race of tree people, they're from a planet called Sheem."

"Is there a race of talking raccoons?" Rory asks.

"I'll ask."

The three sit on the couch watching The Guardians of the Galaxy in the Pond's living room on a cold November evening. Peyton had little luck with getting Sherlock access to the files he wanted, everyone agreeing with Mr Holmes the elder.

She places the popcorn down on the table before grabbing the tub of ice cream and her spoon and digging into it. All this was courtesy of Rory's new promotion at work.

Peyton's phone buzzes from the table but she ignores it, it's probably just nothing at this hour of the evening. But Amy leans over and picks it up.

"A Kate for you," she reads. "She says it's urgent."

Peyton snatches the phone from Amy's hands and reads the text and missed call. It's sent from Kate's personal number, not her work phone. This can't be good.

Peyton passes the ice cream to Rory before jumping over the back of the couch to go to the Ponds' kitchen to call her back.

"What's up, Kate?" Peyton asks worriedly.

"I'm so sorry," she says. "I fought against it but we had no choice, the colonel signed off on it."

"On what? Kate, what's happening?"

• • •

Peyton storms through the empty and dimly lit halls of U.N.I.T. headquarters, rage etched through her features as she made her way down to the Black Archives.

She pulled her coat closer around her as the heating had been turned off for the night and the old stone building was more than a little drafty.

She reached the security for the archive and flashed her ID card to Atkins who smiles at her, informing her that he can't believe he was asked to work late on his very first day. He's been one of the guards that have been on duty since she starting working there three years ago.

Stepping into the Black Archive was the closest thing on earth to stepping into the Tardis. Shelves piled high with artefacts and trinkets. Peyton had even found a watch that she had lost in 1738 in here.

She heads straight to the conference table in the middle of the archive and sees Mycroft Holmes, casually leaning against the table, perusing a yellow file, CLASSIFIED written in large red letters across the front of it.

"Ah, Miss Barrett," he laughs without looking up from his reading material. "I wondered when you were going to join us."

Peyton spots Kate Stewart not too far away, glaring at the intruder. "Well, the bus was delayed," Peyton replies sarcastically. Even with the bus on time, it's still a half-hour journey from home to the Tower of London.

"Your file is quite interesting, magnificent I would even say," Mycroft smiles, finally looking up at her. "At age four you were administered as many intelligence tests we have to offer, I see why you keep it in here and not with the rest. Don't want this falling into the wrong hands. Oh, don't give me that look, I serve only queen and country, your secret is beyond safe with me."

Peyton steps forward, fists balling by her sides. "Only four people on this planet are cleared to see this archive and not have their memory wiped. Myself, Ms Stewart, Colonel Harries and the Brigadier herself! Not even the ruddy Queen's visits are allowed to accompany her beyond these walls."

"Five now, I'm afraid I spoke with our Brigadier and she agreed that I can serve as a useful bridge between the workings here at U.N.I.T. and our government. Despite what you may think, there is no secret plan, I am seeing what can be done to serve my country better."

"So why do you need to read my personal file then," Peyton folds her arms.

"Oh, this was personal," he sneers, throwing the file down into the table. "Not many people have the guts to defy me. I was simply curious as what could possibly give you the daring to speak to me the way you did. I suppose I can let it slide."

"You're doing this because your baby brother is curious about the Doctor?" Peyton fumes.

"The Doctor is a dangerous indivi-"

"You clearly haven't met him then," Peyton interrupts. "The Doctor isn't some weapon or some great military force. He's an idiot! A brilliant idiot, nonetheless. And he's my personal friend, so, I may do with that information whatever I like. Do not think you can use that information there to blackmail me into submitting to you, because if you ruin me, it won't matter, if you destroy my reputation, there's no real harm that will come to me. But do you know what will happen? If you utter a single word of this to the press or to the mainstream government? This idiot will come and make your life hell, just because you made his friend upset. You want that?"

"Your threats bother me and much as mine do you," Mycroft drawls.

"Oh, it wasn't a threat. It was a warning."

"Then we're on equal terms, then?" Mycroft sighs. "A stalemate. Both parties with the firepower to bring the other down."

"It's not like that at all," Peyton replies darkly. "You have firepower, I have a best friend."

"Well, isn't that adorable," Mycroft pushes himself off the table. "Goodnight, ladies, that will be all. Miss Barrett, stay away from my brother."

Peyton watches, rooted to the spot, as Mr Holmes walks away from her and toward the exit. She looks over to Kate, who shares her same tired expression. Together they turn to leave, maintaining a great distance from Mycroft Holmes.

"I didn't know you had run in with Mr Holmes frequently enough to have such a prickly relationship with him," Kate says as they wave goodbye to Atkins.

"I don't," Peyton chuckles. "I imagine any relationship with Mr Holmes would be prickly."

Kate nods in agreement. "What did he mean about staying away from his brother, he's the detective, right?"

"Holmes Junior and I met once and Mr Holmes seems to want to make my life difficult over a casual conversation."

"So are you worried? He has your address, your parents' address. He can and will make your life hell if you let him," Kate warns.

"I'm not worried," Peyton smiles knowingly. "If he tries anything, he'll have a whole lot more coming to him."

"I wouldn't go looking for trouble with someone as powerful as him," Kate shakes her head. "No matter who you are, he is now higher ranked than you."

"I have a plan," Peyton says as they reach the exit out into the cold London air. "Don't worry about me."

"Goodnight then, Peyton, and please make a good decision" Kate nods. "We're flying out to Geneva tomorrow night and I do not need you going missing."

• • •

The trip to Switzerland was great. Peyton hadn't been there in the present day before and as much as most of her days were spent in the Palais de Nations, listening to foreign diplomats raise their concerns about international security, U.N.I.T. had booked her to fly back to London a day after the convention had ended, leaving her free to explore the city.

She took a photo, smiling widely in front of the beautiful St Pierre Cathedral which she sent back to the Ponds and her parents who texted back at various speeds expressing their jealousy about being stuck at home.

While sipping a hot chocolate in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Peyton pulls out her phone and decides to text the newest number in her phone, the one Rory had forwarded to her not too long ago.

Just to spite the elder Holmes who, when speaking at one of the events of the last few days continuously alluded to Peyton with a certain cynicism and suspicion. She knows that he was just doing it to scare, her, to intimidate her into doing what she is told. But she's never been very good at that.

_Tell me everything you both know, I may be able to schedule a meeting but it won't be for a while. - Barrett_

• • •

The tone signalling her call going to voicemail causes Peyton to groan as she paces around her yard.

"Doctor, it's me," she says with a sigh. "We haven't heard from you for a few months now and I'm just calling to remind you that it's my birthday tomorrow and if you're not here to celebrate with us I will personally ruin your life. It's my ninety-ninth, technically, and if you're not here I'll-"

"Do what?"

Peyton spins around to see the Doctor leaning against the doorframe of her backdoor, eating a muffin from the cooling rack on her countertop.

She clicks her phone off and scowls at him, but a smile pierces through it undermining her attempt to be intimidating. "Stop breaking into my house," she says as she makes her way up to him.

"What did I break?" He asks cheekily, tossing his screwdriver in the air and catching it.

"Four months, not even a call and we haven't seen you since Christmas," she chastises, punching him lightly in the bicep. "You were starting to worry us."

"Sorry, time flies when you're a fugitive of seven planets for a crime you didn't technically commit," he says suavely.

"Come on, Amy will be home soon and I'm sure she'll want your help her with my surprise party," Peyton says, wrapping her arm around his and leading him back through her house.

"You know about your own surprise party?" The Doctor raises an eyebrow.

"I love him, but Rory is a terrible liar," she smiles, opening the door to her flat and stepping out onto the pavement where she softly shoves the Doctor out and nods toward the Ponds' house. "He's home, by the way, go say hello."

The Doctor smiles at her one last time before shoving his hands in his coat and strolling up to the Pond's door and rapping his knuckles on the wood.

Peyton closes her door slowly, spotting the Tardis on the other side of the road, standing unnoticed by the rest of Wisteria Street. She smiles softly. Her plan was going to go off without a hitch.

• • •

"Happy Birthday!" the small crowd cheers as Amy removes her hands from in front of Peyton's eyes, revealing to her the beautifully decked out garden in honour of her birthday.

"I love it," Peyton laughs as she throws her arms around Amy's neck. "Thank you."

"Anything for you, our favourite grandma," Amy jests, keeping her voice lower as the guests resume their conversations. "We should put you in a home! You look great for ninety-nine."

"May I remind you that your husband is almost as old as Christianity," Peyton rolls her eyes.

She lets Amy lead her down onto the grass where the Doctor is standing with his arms spread goofily, a party hat on his head. "Peyton!" He laughs, engulfing her in his arms tightly.

"Thanks for being here, Doctor," she smiles as he pulls away.

"I think they miscounted though," he says, pointing up at the balloons above the snacks table. The numbers two and six. They laugh. Peyton turns to see her mum and dad waiting patiently for their turn to embrace their adoptive daughter.

"You came all the way down here?' Peyton lunges forward into her mother's arms.

"We couldn't miss out on our baby girl's birthday, now could we?" She says.

"Hello again," the Doctor says, shaking her father's hand enthusiastically, then her mother's as she lets go of Peyton. We met briefly at the wedding. I'm-"

"Amelia's imaginary friend," her dad says with a thoroughly unimpressed face.

"Dad," Peyton groans. Her mother thankfully places a hand on her husband's arm. Before he can say anything else.

"Come on, you lot," Peyton says. "It's my birthday and I want to dance."

The affair was to take up much of the afternoon. The guests included Peyton's parents and well as the Ponds' to keep them company as well as few mates from U.N.I.T she had made. There were however two more guests Peyton was waiting on, she invited them rather than the Ponds but told them to arrive a bit later so that they didn't have to endure the actual celebration arrangements.

After lunch and cake had been eaten, they sit around the garden, champagne in hand (the Doctor had raided Peyton's fridge and found juice instead) laughing and enjoying the warm sun. That is until, Peyton hears the doorbell ring. The Doctor is the only other person who hears it, the sound of the music drowning it out for the human party guests.

She slips inside, excusing herself to go answer the door. When she walks through the house, she pulls the door open to see Dr Watson and the younger Mr Holmes standing at her front door, the shorter of the two bearing a bouquet of flowers.

"You really didn't have to," Peyton says, as he offers them to her. She takes them and they smell beautiful. "Come on through, everyone's still out in the yard."

She leads them back to the rest of the party and immediately all eyes fall on the two celebrities standing on her porch.

"Acquaintances of mine," Peyton introduces them to the rest of the party, placing the flowers on a table where a few other bouquets lie. "Thought they'd drop by to say hello."

Rory immediately rushes up behind Peyton. "That's world-famous detective Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson," he whispers excitedly.

"Yeah, we've had lunch with Winston Churchill, can you be cool for like five minutes?" She hisses back before walking back to them. "There's someone I'd like you to meet."

She turns around and waves to the Doctor up on the porch, pointing at himself with a frown before joining them.

"Doctor," Peyton says. "This is Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson."

"Oh, you two are brilliant," the Doctor smiles, shaking both their hands vigorously which clearly makes them both quite uncomfortable. "I've seen all your best work. Genius, amazing!"

"You have?" Sherlock says slowly.

"Oh, of course, Sherlock Holmes, and Doctor Watson. The world will never forget you two."

"I'll leave you boys to chat," Peyton winks up at Holmes and Watson before stepping back toward the others.

"You know Sherlock Holmes?" Bethany Aberdeen from the reception desk asks.

"I've had a run-in with him, yeah," Peyton says, picking up her glass of champagne. "They wanted to meet the Doctor,"

"Does this mean you knew about the surprise party?" Amy groans.

"Your husband is a terrible liar, I'm sorry."

The party cracked up laughing at that.

• • •

After what seemed like hours of waving goodbye to her, Amy, and Rory's parents, the three of them collapse onto Peyton's sofa.

"Did either of you see the Doctor leave?" Rory asks.

"No, but I imagine I know who he's with."

Peyton hadn't seen Mr Holmes and Dr Watson leave either, she could put two and two together.

"Longer and longer between his visits," Amy sighs, her red hair flowing off the arm of the couch. "Sometimes I think one day he'll stop coming."

"Don't say that," Peyton pushes herself upright. "Us three and the Doctor in the Tardis, all of space and time, forever."

"Yeah, or until we get too old," Rory reminds her. "You're almost one hundred years old and look not a day over twenty-five."

"Thank you," Peyton smiles cockily. "And don't think you guys getting old will ever stop us. We'll wheel you around in wheelchairs if we have to."

The Ponds laugh at that.

"Come on, we've got that cake to eat for dinner," Amy says, pushing Peyton and her husband off the couch, causing them to land with a thud on the carpet.


	33. The Day they Protected some Cowboys

"Mercy," Peyton reads, the dry heat of the Arizona sun beating down on them. "Eighty-one residents."

"Look at this," Amy says. "It's a load of stones and lumps of wood."

Peyton glances down to the line of debris surrounding the town's limits curiously. It's odd, certainly but by their standards, not particularly.

Peyton looks to the Doctor who nods at her. She retrieves her sonic pen from her pocket and runs it along the debris.

"What is it?" Rory asks.

She looks at the readings then up at him. "A load of stones and lumps of wood."

"Seems fine time me," the Doctor comments before stepping across the line and toward the town. His three companions share a look before Peyton joins him.

"Er, the sign does say, 'keep out'," Rory says.

"I see keep out signs as suggestions more than actual orders," the Doctor turns back to the Ponds. "Like dry clean only."

He rubs his hands together and heads off into the town.

Rory and Amy hop over the line and beside Peyton, follow the Time Lord into whatever trouble lies ahead.

At first, Peyton thinks it's empty, a ghost town. That is until she looks harder and notices the faces peering out from windows and doorways, peering at the newcomers. She hopes it's just curiosity, not anger.

An old-timey electric streetlight sparks and the Doctor clicks at it. "That's not right."

He sonics it and analyses the readings.

"It's a street lamp," Rory says unimpressed.

Peyton lifts her wrist to her eye line, the Doctor gave it to her for her birthday. It automatically adjusts itself to time travel, displaying not only the local time but the date, year, weather, and points north. Very handy.

"An electric street lamp. It's 1869, we're about ten years too early for the light bulb," Peyton informs him.

"Well, it's only a few years out," he shrugs.

"That's what you said when you left your phone charger in Henry the Eighth's en-suite," the Doctor points out.

"Doctor, um," Amy speaks up.

"Anachronistic electricity, keep out signs, aggressive states," the Doctor chuckles. "Has someone been peeking at my Christmas list?"

"Doctor!" Amy gets his attention but pauses as he pulls a toothpick from his pocket and puts it in his mouth. Peyton bets he thinks he looks really cool chewing on that thing. She sighs exasperatedly.

• • •

The silent outrage when the Doctor introduces himself at the bar definitely piques Peyton interest. As the cowboy looking townsfolk get to their feet, she shoves her hands in her trouser pockets.

"No need to stand," the Doctor smiles before turning to his companions. "You see that? Manners."

Peyton peers over his shoulder to see a man with a tape measure, holding it up to the Doctor's shoulders.

"Uh, thanks, but I don't need a new suit," the Doctor says awkwardly, turning around to him.

"I'm the undertaker, sir," he says beneath his enormous moustache.

The Doctor takes a double-take as many of the patrons start snickering at him.

"I got a question," a young man announces in an incredibly strong southern accent. "Is you an alien?"

"Well, um, but personal," the Doctor stammers turning to Peyton who shrugs. "It's all relative, isn't it? I mean, I think you're the aliens. But in this context, yes. Yes, I suppose I am."

Out of nowhere, the patrons swarm around the Doctor, hoisting him off the floor and storming out of the bar. Peyton, Amy, and Rory stand stunned for a second before charging after him.

"Doctor!" Peyton shouts.

"Put him down!" Amy yells.

"Leave him alone!" Rory roars.

Two strangers grab each of Peyton's arms, another four hold Amy and Rory. She tries to hit them away but nothing seems to loosen their grip.

"Don't worry," the Doctor calls. "Everything is completely under control!"

They are dragged through the town to its limits where they arrived. Before them, Peyton watches as the angry mob throw the Doctor into the first beyond the town line.

He rolls out of it and to his feet, groaning in pain. He turns back to the crowd only for a dozen pistols to be pointed at him. He raises his hands.

"He's coming," a man says, seemingly the only person of colour around. "Oh, God, he's coming."

"Preacher," the kid from the bar says. "Say something."

Peyton tries to peer past the crowds to see what on earth they're talking about. That's when she sees something dark in the distance. A figure, moving toward them.

"Our father, who art in heaven," he begins. "Hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come."

The Doctor turns to see the figure, teleporting every few steps closer and closer. He makes a move to run back inside but everyone raises their guns again.

"Thy will be done."

Peyton covers her ears as a gun goes off behind her. She turns as her captors release her to see a man pointing his gun toward the sky. That seems to get everyone else's attention too.

"You!" He puts the gun back in its holster. "Bow tie. Get back across that line. Now."

Without hesitation, the Doctor follows orders and looks back to the figure. From this distance Peyton can tell it's a man, but with some sort of metal attachment on his face. He can't be from around here, cyborgs were never a part of the Cowboys and Native Americans stories.

He fades away, literally, teleporting off back to where he came from, somehow deterred from his mission by the line of rock and wood.

"Isaac," the kid says. "He said he was a doctor... an alien doctor."

"Is that a reason to hand him to his death?"

"But, Isaac, it could be him!"

"You know it ain't."

The man turns away from the Doctor and walks back through the crowd.

"Ma'am," he nods to Peyton, allowing her to get a peek at the faded gold badge on his chest. Marshall.

The Doctor fixes his blazer cockily, quite smug-faced at the townsfolk who had tried to sacrifice him before marching after Isaac.

With a nod to Amy and Rory's captors, they let him go, the Ponds join Peyton in walking after the Doctor, many questions bouncing around in their heads.

• • •

They file into the Saloon and look around. Two small holding cells take up much of one side of the room while a desk and cabinets line the opposite.

"What was that outside?" The Doctor asks.

"The Gunslinger," Isaac sighs, sitting back on his desk. "Showed up three weeks back. We've been prisoners ever since. See that borderline stretching around the town? Woke up one morning there it was. Nothing gets past it, in or out. No supply wagons, no reinforcements. Pretty soon the whole town's going to starve to death."

"But, he let us in," Peyton frowns.

"You ain't carrying any food, just four more mouths to feed. We'll all die even sooner now."

"What happens if someone crosses the line," Rory asks, uneasily looking toward the Doctor.

Isaac tosses a stetson in the direction of the strangers, the Doctor catches it out of the air. He lifts it to eye level and sticks his finger through a hole, perfectly seared as if from a laser bolt. "Ah, well. He wasn't a very good shot, then."

"He was aiming for the hat," Isaac clarifies.

"He shoots peoples hats?"

"I think it was a warning shot," Amy says.

"Ah, no," the Doctor says, passing the hat to Peyton. "Yes, I see, hmm."

"What does he want?" Peyton asks, passing the hat along to Rory. "Has he issued some kind of demand?"

"He says he wants us to give him the alien Doctor," Isaac says as the Stetson is pressed to Peyton's chest again. She passes it to the Doctor. Who throws it back at Isaac.

"But that's you," Amy says in a hushed voice, leaning past her husband. "Why would he wanna kill you?"

"Unless he's met him," Peyton adds, looking the Doctor up and down. Not impressed with her statement, the Doctor smacks her lightly in the back of the head.

"And how could he know we'd be here," Rory mentions. "We didn't even know we'd be here."

"We were aiming for Mexico," Amy explains to the Marshall. "The Doctor was taking us to see the Day of the Dead festival.

"Mexico's two hundred miles due south," Isaac says.

"Well, that's what happens when people get toast crumbs on the console," the Doctor says very pointedly at Rory who rebuts him with his own unimpressed expression. "Anyway, I think it's about time I met him, don't you?"

"Who?" Isaac frowns as the Doctor jumps up to sit on the reception desk.

The Doctor clicks his fingers at Peyton. "Who am I looking for?"

"Uh," she blanks for a second before her brain catches up to the Doctor. "The kid said he could be the alien doctor but you said he wasn't. So you already know who it is."

The Doctor winks at her. "Two alien doctors!" He chuckles. "We're like buses. Resident eighty-one, I presume. So beloved by the townsfolk, he warranted an alteration to the sign. Probably because he rigged up these electrics. And I'm guessing he's in her because if half the town suddenly wanted to throw me to my death, this is where I'd want to be."

Peyton peers over her shoulder behind her at the holding cell. There was a pile of blankets sitting atop the bench. But she isn't sure blankets move up and down.

"I don't know what you-"

"It's alright, Isaac," a voice from within the cell interrupts him, the blankets are thrown off. "I think the time for subterfuge has passed." The Doctor appears at Peyton's side, looking in past the bars. The man walks up to them, wearing a brown suit and bowler hat, his glasses sitting on his nose are attached by a string leading somewhere in his coat. On one side of his face, a dark tattoo of an alien symbol marks his skin. "Good afternoon. My name is Kahler-Jex. I'm the doctor."

Peyton looks toward the Doctor who breaks out into a massive grin. Kahler-Jex places a hand on the cell door, pushing it open easily before stepping out.

The Doctor thrusts his hand out to shake his hand, his enormous smile never dropping from his face.

"The Kahler," he beams, shaking the man's hand vigorously. "I love the Kahler. They're one of the most ingenious races in the galaxy. Seriously, they could build a spaceship out of Tupperware and moss."

"Alright," Amy smiles awkwardly as she pulls the Doctor away from Kahler-Jex and into a chair facing the Marshall's desk. He was beginning to seem overwhelmed at the Doctor's ongoing handshake. "How did you get here?"

"My craft crashed about a mile or so out of town," he explains, walking around to sit beside Isaac. "I would have died if Isaac and the others hadn't pulled me from the wreckage."

"And you stayed, as their doctor?" Peyton smiles, impressed by his graciousness.

"On my world, I was a surgeon, so it seemed logical and it gave me an opportunity to repay my debt to them."

Isaac scoffs. "Listen to him. Talking like it was nothing. Tell them about the cholera."

"Now, Isaac, I'm sure our guests aren't-"

"Two years after he arrived, there was an outbreak of cholera. Thanks to the doc here not a single person died," Isaac interrupts him.

"A minor infection we'd found a treatment for centuries ago," Kahler-Jex insists.

"No, no, no. What do you call them? The lectricks?"

"Using my ship as a generator, I was able to rig up some rudimentary heating and lighting for the town."

"So why does the Gunslinger want you?" The Doctor asks, leaning forward.

"It don't matter," Isaac counters forcefully.

"I'm just saying, if we knew-"

"America's a land of second chances," Isaac cuts him off. "We call this town Mercy for a reason. Others, some 'round here don't feel that way."

"Now, Isaac, we've discussed this," Kahler-Jex reminds him in a calm voice. Peyton chuckles under her breath at the old-married-couple chemistry between them.

"People whose lives you saved are suddenly saying we should hand you over."

"They're scared, that's all. You can hardly blame them."

"Them being scared, scared me," Isaac says darkly before looking back across the desk to the four strangers. "The war only ended five years back. That old violence is still under the surface. We give up Doc Jex, then we're handing the keys of the town over to chaos."

"Did you try to repair your craft?" The Doctor asks. "Surely someone with your skills..."

"It really was very badly damaged," he sighs.

The Doctor nods before getting to his feet. "We evacuate the town. Our ship's just over the hills. Room enough for everyone. I'll pop out, bring it back here. Robert's your uncle."

"Really? Simple as that?" Peyton asks, almost disappointed. No crazy schemes? No negotiations?"

"I've matured," he says, sitting on the desk. "I'm twelve hundred years old now. Plus, I don't want to miss The Archers."

He jumps off the desk, taking the shot stetson with him.

"Oh, so you're not even a tiny bit curious?" Amy asks.

"Why would I be curious?" The Doctor asks in the doorway, his voice raised an octave. "It's a mysterious space cowboy assassin. Curious? Of course, I'm not curious."

"Son," Isaac warns as the Doctor leaves, causing him to pop his head back inside. "You've still got to get past the Gunslinger. How are you going to do that?"

The Doctor lifts his arm to place the stetson on his head slowly. "With a little sleight of hand."

• • •

Peyton focuses on breathing in through her nose and out throw her mouth as she, Rory, and Isaac run across the arid American desert. She keeps herself close to Isaac as possible, the Doctor hypothesised that this Gunslinger wouldn't shoot innocent people.

Isaac, wearing Jex's clothes is the sleight of hand the Doctor described an hour ago in the Saloon and they just had to run and not get killed, simple enough.

They reach some rocky cliffs which they run single file across a ledge along.

A bolt of gunfire strikes the path between Isaac and Peyton who jumps back into Rory who makes sure she doesn't fall to the ground.

"I, uh, I think he's seen us," Rory stammers and Peyton regains her balance and dusts herself off.

"This way," Isaac grunts, grabbing Peyton and Rory by their wrists and dragging them onward.

• • •

The three duck under a rocky hill on the plain, panting as they crouch down and wait in silence.

"So, we wait here till the Doctor comes to pick us up in your ship," Isaac says.

"Yes, I know," Rory frowns between him and Peyton. "We were there when we agreed to it."

"Yeah, I said that more for my benefit than yours," he mumbles.

"We're going to be fine," Peyton says, tucking her hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear. "As long as the Doctor doesn't get himself killed."

"Again," Rory chuckles under his breath.

"Like you can talk," Peyton fires back.

"You lot are really the strangest folks I've ever met," Isaac shakes his head.

"Yeah, we get that a lot."

The sound of nearing metallic footsteps quietens the three. Rory stiffens, causing his feet to slide against the dusty ground. Isaac quickly places a hand across his middle to steady him as they wait in silence.

The sound of a weapon powering up causes Peyton to suck in a breath and hold herself closer to the rock digging into her back. Rory's hand comes to grip her forearm as he tries not to breathe too heavily.

Suddenly a high pitched noise rings out across the desert. The piercing alarm must be from Jex's ship, the Doctor must have come across it.

The Gunslinger's weapon powers down and his footsteps get quieter.

Isaac, Rory, and Peyton slowly peer out from behind the rock, no killer cowboys in sight.

"We should go back to town," Peyton says over the sound of the continued glare of the alarm. "If he's after the Doctor, we'll be safe to go back."

Isaac and Rory seem pretty satisfied with that plan.

• • •

The noise had ceased not long before Peyton had leapt over the haphazard town line.

The town, just as empty as when she had first arrived was not much of a comfort.

They march up to Isaac's office but he signals them to stop just as they reach the porch.

Peyton can hear Amy and Jex inside through the thin walls. Jex seems titchy. She slowly leans over to peer through a grubby window pane to see the alien doctor holding a pistol at Amy.

Isaac must have seen this through the glass on the door too as he draws his own pistol as he reaches for the handle.

But it is opened from the inside first and Isaac's gun connects with the back on Kahler-Jex's neck.

He freezes and both hands raise in surrender. Isaac pushes him back inside the room building slowly.

"What are you doin'?"

• • •

"He's lying," the Doctor appears without warning, strolling into the building as Jex tries to explain himself. Peyton had to pull Rory off him as he had pinned the alien to the wall for threatening his wife. "Every word. Everything he says."

He walks toward Jex, staring him down. As he gets closer, Jex stumbles backward but the Doctor continues to glare down at him. "

"It's... all... lies. This man is a murderer."

"I am a scientist!"

"Sit down," the Doctor says in a threatening whisper. Jex doesn't move. "Sit down!"

Jex falls back into a chair in fright.

"Tell them what you are," he orders.

"What am I?" Jex stares up at him. "A war hero."

"Okay," Isaac interrupts, the Doctor turns away from Jex and storms off to the other side of the room. "Somebody wanna tell me what's going on?"

"The Gunslinger is a cyborg," the Doctor says.

"A what?"

"Half man, half machine," he begins. "A weapon. Jex built it. He as his team took volunteers. Told them they'd be selected for special training, then experimented on them, fused their bodies with weaponry and programmed them to kill!"

"Okay, why? Why would you do that, doc?"

"We'd been at war for nine years," he explains. "A war that had already decimated half our planet. Our task was to bring peace, and we did. We built an army that routed the enemy and ended the war in less than a week. Do you want me to repent? To beg forgiveness for saving millions of lives?"

"And how many died screaming on the operating table before you had found your advantage?" The Doctor lunges forward into his face

"War is another world. You cannot apply the politics of peace to what I did, to what any of us did."

Peyton's blood boils as the Doctor walks off to pace behind them. Her eyes, like daggers, bore into this man before her. The audacity, the horror.

"But what happened then? How come you're here?" Rory asks.

"When the war ended, we had the Cyborgs decommissioned. But one of them must have got its circuitry damaged in battle. It went offline and begun hunting down the team that created it until just two of us were left. We fled, and our ships crashed here."

Peyton feels herself be tugged into a group huddle, she hadn't even noticed that people had stopped talking.

"So," Rory begins. "What do we do with Jex?"

Peyton lifts her head up and looks to the Doctor across the room who seems to be deep in thought.

"What do we do with him?" Isaac frowns, appalled.

"Yeah, he's a war criminal," Peyton reminds him.

"No, he's the guy that saved the town from cholera, the guy that gave us heat and light."

"Look, Jex may be a criminal and, yeah, kinda creepy-"

"And still in the room," the prisoner interrupts Amy.

"-But we should put aside what he did and find another solution."

"Another solution? It's him or us." Peyton hisses at her.

"When did we start letting people get executed?" Amy protests. "Did I miss a memo? Doctor, tell them!"

"Hmm?" The Doctor is snapped out of his daze. "Yes. I don't know. Whatever Amy said."

"Looking at you, Doctor, is like looking into a mirror. Almost," Jex speaks up. "There's rage there, like me. Guilt, like me. Solitude. Everything but the nerve to do what needs to be done. Thank the gods my people weren't relying on you to save them."

The Doctor snaps.

"No. No!" He roars. "But these people are!" He grabs Jex and rips him from his chairs shoving him toward the door. "Out! Out! Out!"

Isaac storms past to try to calm the Doctor down but Rory grabs his arm to stop him. The Marshall rips his arm from his grip and continues to storm after them.

Peyton and Rory rush after them but Rory stops in the doorway, turning to his wife and holding his arm out to stop her.

"Oh, you're really letting him do this?" Amy sneers.

"To save us all?" Peyton says over his shoulder. "Yeah, we really are."

She storms off, Rory close behind her and looking ahead to where the Doctor is dragging Jex through the town. Amy isn't far behind, chastising them for being stupid but Peyton pays her no mind. They have to do this, all these people are going to starve to death because of this coward.

A crowd begins to gather behind them, curious townsfolk coming out to see what all the fuss is about, following them to the town limits.

When the mob reaches the town line, Peyton sees the Doctor throw Jex out harshly, the man trips and fall to the dusty ground.

The Doctor turns, walking away from the collection of wood and stones as Jex gets to his feet, only to rip a pistol from the holster of a nearby civilian and spin back to point it at Jex before he crosses back over the line.

With his hands raises beside his head, Jex sucks in an unsteady breath. "You wouldn't."

The sound of the gun cocking rings through the silent desert. The sound chills Peyton. After all these years of travelling with the Doctor, he's never actually shot, someone. Threatened, yes. Left to die, slash, explode, only if necessary. But the image in front of her, her brain wants to reject it. She reasons with herself that Jex is in the wrong, he tortured and killed innocent people, and the Gunslingers just going to kill him anyway, what does it matter who does the deed in the end.

"I genuinely don't know."

"Doctor," Isaac starts. "Doctor!"

The Doctor turns to argue but the sound of a gun going off very close to Peyton's head makes her duck with a small shriek.

She peers over the heads of the others, all crouched as well, to see Amy pointing a pistol to the sky.

"Let him come back, Doctor," she demands, lowering the gun to point at him. Peyton slowly stretches up, Rory beside her does the same.

"Or what?" The Doctor scoffs, lowering his own gun to his side. "You won't shoot me, Amy!"

"How do you know," she cocks her gun, before waving it around to prove her point. "Maybe I've changed. You've clearly been taking stupid lessons since I saw you last!"

The gun fires again, Peyton scampers backward, pulling Rory by the arm with her.

"I didn't mean to do that," Amy apologises. The gun goes off again.

"Okay," Isaac intervenes. "Everyone who isn't an American, drop your gun."

"We could end this right now, we could save everyone right now," the Doctor says, walking up to Amy.

"This is not how we roll, and you know it," Amy argues. "What's happened to you, Doctor? When did killing someone become an option?"

"Jex has to answer for his crimes," Peyton asserts, stepping forward again.

"And what then?" She turns to glare at Peyton. "Look at you. What have you become, Peyton? What has he made you? Are you two gonna hunt down everyone who's made a gun, a bullet, or a bomb?

Peyton stills, frozen in shock and fear. She's right. Of course, she's right. She was totally okay with killing this man point-blank, and maybe she still is, but Amy is right; she didn't used to be like this. Peyton feels Rory's hand rest on her back. He can always tell.

"But they keep coming back, don't you see?" The Doctor stresses. "Every time I negotiate, I try to understand. Well, not today! No! Today I honour the victims first! His, the Master's, the Daleks', all the people who died because of my mercy!"

"See, this is what happens when you travel alone for too long," Amy says softly. "And you take her with you, and that's not her fault. Well, listen to me, Doctor, both of you. We can't be like him. We have to be better than him."

"Amelia Pond," the Doctor sighs, his face defeated in the same realisation that Peyton is having. "Fine, fine. We think of something else." He turns back to Jex and walks toward him. He looks over his shoulder at Amy. "But frankly, I'm betting on the Gunslinger." He thrusts the gun back toward the man he had stolen it from.

The Gunslinger appears in the distance, stalking toward its prey.

"Jex, come over the line," the Doctor signals. "Now!"

He doesn't move, frozen in place, his hands still raised by his head.

The Gunslinger fades into thin air before appearing directly behind Jex, weapon raises and held at the back of his head.

Jex turns slowly, staring up into the face of his predator.

"Make peace with your gods," the Gunslinger instructs, his voice low and gravelly.

"Kahler-Tek, isn't it?" Jex asks, his voice calm and unwavering. "I remember all your names, even now. Please. I'd never hurt anyone again. I'm even helping people here."

"Last chance," the Gunslinger insists, his weapon powering up. "Make peace with your gods."

"No!" Isaac cries. In the blink of an eye, he rushes forward and shoves Jex our of the way to the ground, taking the shot that was meant for him.

As Isaac crumples to the ground, the Doctor and Rory both rush forward to his side. Peyton catches up and watches as the Marshall writhes and groans in pain in the orange dirt.

The Doctor cradles his head while Rory runs his hands over his chest, trying to assess his wound, but Peyton knows that he must realise any shot from that proximity would not be possible to nurse back to health.

"Isaac, Isaac, it's okay, it's okay," the Doctor says. "It's okay, we can get you to Jex's surgery, he can save you."

"Listen to me," Isaac grabs the Doctor's free hand as Rory pushes himself back in defeat. "You've got to stay. You've got to look after everyone."

"It won't come to that, Isaac."

"Protect Jex. Protect my town. You're both good men. You just forget it sometimes."

Peyton looks away as the Marshall falls limp in the Doctor's arms. With a sigh the Doctor turns his hand, the one that was holding Isaac's, to reveal the faded Marshall's star lying in his palm.

He stares at it before pinning it to his lapel, getting to his feet again. He stares down the Gunslinger before turning to Peyton and the rest of the townsfolk. "Take Jex to his cell. If anything happens to him, you'll have me to answer to."

Two men take initiative to come forward and grab Jex by the arms and half lead, half drag him through the crowd and back toward the Saloon.

The Doctor marches up to face the Gunslinger, halting at the town line.

"This is gone on long enough," he says in a hushed tone.

"You are right," the Gunslinger replies, before turning and walking away. The Doctor does the same, his head bowed.

The cyborg, however, swings back around, his weapon raised threateningly. "You've got until noon tomorrow. Give him to me, or I'll kill you all."

The Doctor stares as the Gunslinger fades away into the afternoon sun, hanging low in the sky. He turns back to the crowd with a sigh.

"Oh my God," Amy says. "You're the Marshall."

"Yeah, and you're the deputy."

• • •

Night falls on the town of Mercy swifter than Peyton would have hoped. Holed up in the Saloon, she stares out of the window at the night sky hopelessly, as if the stars that hung there would help her think of a plan.

A knock at the door snaps her out of her head and she watches as the priest enters, taking off his hat as he does.

"Marshall," he nods to the Doctor who is standing by Jex's cell. "Ma'am," he nods toward Amy who sits behind the Marshall's desk. He gives a silent nod to both Peyton and Rory before looking back to the Doctor. "You need to come outside."

"Why what's wrong?" The Doctor asks.

"Just come outside. And you should put that on," he says, looking pointedly at the holster hanging on the wall.

Everyone gets to their feet as the Doctor reaches for it and slides it around his hips.

• • •

All the beds in the town's small motel were empty so at least Peyton had a warm bed to watch the sunrise on the doomed town. After hours of deliberation, the plan was concocted.

Soon enough, the clock tower sings out twelve sombre notes that resonate through the bones of every person in the town.

Most of the civilians had holed themselves in the church, some in their homes. Peyton and Amy wait in silence in the Saloon with Jex, still behind his bars.

Through the grimy window, Peyton watches the Doctor wait in the town square, Stetson tipped low on his head and hand on his holster.

With a metallic clanking, the footsteps on the Gunslinger echo through the empty streets until Peyton can see him appear, not saying a word, simply staring down the Doctor.

The final toll rings out and the breath catches in Peyton's throat.

The Gunslinger raises his arm, powering up his weapon as he does so but the Doctor is quicker. His hand pulls away from his holster and dives into his jacket lining pocket, retrieving his sonic screwdriver and pointing it straight up in the air, emitting a high pitched signal he designed last night with the help of Jex to interfere with the Gunslinger's systems.

It was a very rushed job, clearly, as the windows of all nearby building shatter into tiny pieces.

The Doctor starts to run. The Gunslinger, still frazzled, takes a shot and misses, taking out the large clock atop the Grand Central Bank.

Peyton looks to Amy, who nods. Peyton fosses her the keys to Jex's cell and she walks up to the bars before inserting them into the lock. "Ready?"

Jex nods to the both of them and Amy shows him to the back door.

He looks at Amy one last time with a thankful smile before the door closes behind him.

"Now we wait," Amy says under her breath.

"I hope your husband has been keeping up the cardio," Peyton says. "If he dies, I'll kill him."

"I'll be right by you."

• • •

"Okay, so, our next trip," the Doctor says, bounding out of the doors of the bar and toward the Tardis now parked in the middle of the square. "Oh! You know all the monkeys and dogs they sent into space in the fifties and sixties? You will never guess what happened to them."

It was a brave thing Jex did. The town is safe now, the Gunslinger as their protector. Peyton shoved to one side the thoughts she was having about the Doctor's actions and her reactions to them. When he had held that gun to Jex's head she should have felt as horrified as Amy, instead of on reflection, she knew her blood was boiling with adrenaline and excitement. Jex deserved it, sure. But what does that mean about her?

"Erm, could we, leave it a while?" Amy asks as the time travellers reach the little blue box. "Our friends are going to start noticing that we're ageing faster than them."

"Some of us are just regular old Earthlings," Rory chuckles, giving Peyton's shoulder a punch.

"Another time? No worries!" The Doctor claps.

With a final wave to the townsfolk, Peyton heads inside the Tardis with Amy and Rory, the door shutting behind them on the old Western town and into all the possibilities of time and space.


	34. In The Tardis #5

"Peyton, can you stay down here a minute," the Doctor calls from beneath the console as she leaves for the library. They had just dropped Amy and Rory home after spending a week in Tahiti where a surprising lack of life-threatening events occurred providing and actually restful holiday for once.

"Hmm?" She stops at the top of the stairs, peering through the glass. The Doctor had gone down below deck to tinker and Peyton had opted for some reading, brushing up on her Judoon perhaps.

"Just... come here," he sighs. A cold feeling settles in Peyton's gut, his tone of voice suggests that what the Doctor wants cannot be good.

She walks down the stairs and under the glass deck. The Doctor sits on the small swing that he uses to repair the Tardis with his hands in his lap, looking off into the distance. She grabs a metal bar above her head and leans her weight onto it, trying to be nonchalant. "What's wrong?"

"What wrong?" The Doctor says in a high pitched voice. "Why does something have to be wrong?"

"Doctor," she raises an eyebrow. He looks down into his lap.

"I want to tell you something, Peyton," he says. "I should have told you before but, there was never the right moment, or there was and I didn't want to upset you-"

"Doctor, you're scaring me," Peyton interrupts.

"Yes, right," he nods, his lips pulled into a thin smile. "Peyton, U.N.I.T has lied to you."

"I don't doubt that," Peyton agrees.

"Your mother didn't die in childbirth," he meets her eyes, searching them, gauging her reaction.

"What do you mean?" She shakes her head. "Of course she did."

"Peyton, I met her," he admits. "Well, I saw her. About six months after you were born. I didn't know she had you."

"Saw her?" Her voice is weak, quavering.

"Only in a vision, prophesizing her death, among other things. But I know where she is, that is, if you want to see her."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" She asks quietly.

"Peyton I..." The Doctor gets to his feet and walks over to Peyton, placing both his hands on her shoulders and rubbing them gently. "I wasn't sure what to say, I wasn't sure if you'd even want to-"

"Of course I want to, you daft man," she wipes her eyes, brushing away the tears that have welled up.

"You sure?"

"I'm not crossing my own timeline or anything, am I? Baby me will be locked up in the Tower of London. Doctor, take me there." She says firmly, turning away from him and marching up to the flight deck.

"Peyton, Peyton!" He calls after he as he joins her on deck watching her as she walks around the console and pulls the Tardis' Vortex shields up. "I'll take you as close as I can to the point of her death, we'll do the least amount of damage then. And I'm sorry for that. But as her daughter just meeting her could have dire consequences on her life."

"I'll be discreet, got it," she says through gritted teeth, flipping the switches on the temporal gauges and setting the engine as the Doctor sends the Tardis into flight.

They come to land and yet Peyton doesn't move, still holding onto the console, staring into the central time router. She's scared. She didn't think she'd be scared.

She feels the Doctor's hand warp around her forearm. She looks up at him. He pulls her close to his chest and places a kiss atop her head, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"It's okay, you can do this," he whispers. "I'll be there, right behind you."

Peyton gently pushes the Doctor away, looking up into his hazel eyes. "If we're meeting her at the end of her time stream, I can tell her right, that her daughter grows up, that she's safe."

"Quite right," he brushes her hair behind her ear. "I think that would give her hope about what's to come."

"Doctor, how does she die?" Peyton asks meekly.

"Come on, we've got to be quick."

• • •

Peyton and the Doctor wall down the halls of Broadfell Prison stoically. The Doctor had flashed his psychic paper, declaring that they were the new psychologists for the prisoner and the guard pointed them in the right direction.

Peyton feels numb. She is actually meeting her mother for the first time. She loved Teresa Barrett, who had dedicated twelve years of her life to raising her, taking her in as her own. She would always be her mum.

But her birth mother. She thought she'd never see the day.

"Doctor Smith, Doctor Barrett," a guard greets them, he must have been notified of their arrival. "This way please."

He turns his back to unlock the door to his right. It must be the cell. She's in there, right now. The Doctor grabs her hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze.

The heavy iron door is pushed open and the guard looks back to the two of them just as the Doctor drops his hand.

"A little privacy?" He requests.

"Sorry, sir, I have to stay here the whole time."

"I think it would be for the best," Peyton steps forward, focussing all her energy into her words. "Please."

The man's eyes go glassy for a second before nodding and walking off.

"Go on," the Doctor whispers. "I'll be out here."

Peyton takes a deep breath and steps into the cell. It's her, it's really her. For a second, Peyton is disheartened, looking at this thin woman she thought would be a mirror image of her, but now she realises why sometimes she catches the Doctor looking at her with haunted eyes. She takes after her father. But her jaw and cheekbones, they're her mother's at least.

"Who are you?" Lucy asks. She's so small, they must be feeding her the bare minimum to keep her alive. Barbaric. "What happened to Janine?"

"Nothing's happened, don't worry," Peyton assures her. "I'm just here temporarily, a one-off."

"Oh."

"And I'm not a psychologist."

"Then who are you? How did you get in?"

"Can I sit?"

"Okay."

Peyton lowers herself onto the bench beside her mother, looking into her eyes. She's beautiful. Peyton's breath hitches and tears threaten to rise into her eyes.

"Sorry," Lucy says, looking away. "You remind me of someone. Oh, I'm rude. What was your name?"

"Peyton," she chokes. Lucy smiles at that.

"Beautiful name, that's my daughter's name," she looks up at the young woman again. Then her face changes, she pales, looking the girl up and down. "You can't-"

"I am," Peyton can't contain her tears anymore, letting them spill down her cheeks.

Lucy's bony arms are thrown around Peyton's shoulders and hold her tight. Peyton brings her own arms up to encircle the woman's waist, burying her face into her shoulder.

"Are you really? My baby, all grown up, but how?" She asks, drawing back and bringing her cold hands up to cup her daughters face, brushing away her tears.

"I escaped them, Mum," Peyton sobs, with a smile so wide it hurts her cheeks. The fragile woman chokes up when she hears her call her mum. "I fell back in time and then the Doctor found me."

"The Doctor?" She gasps. "He..."

"Hello," the Doctor waves from the doorway, just sticking his head in for a second.

"He changed his face," Peyton explains when her mother frowns. "He does that."

"Oh, I have so many questions," Lucy's face brightens. "So many things I've missed out on, I'm sorry."

"No, no, no," Peyton sniffles. "Don't be sorry. I had a lovely couple adopt me, I lived in this quaint little village called Leadworth I had great friends who I grew up with and I still travel with to this day. I have seen so much, mum, I've saved planets, and beaten monsters, and flown amongst the stars."

"But all the birthdays," she pulls her close again, stroking her hair softly. "Your first steps, your first day of school. I missed all that. I only got to hold you for a few minutes before they took you away."

"I'm sorry," Peyton pulls back to wipe at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"But if you're here, then that means-"

"I'm afraid so."

"Am I never going to see you again, my beautiful Peyton?" She clasps her daughter's hands in her own.

"I'm sorry, no, shhh," Peyton cradles her mother as she falls forward into her arms, her body racking with sobs. "I miss you, every day."

She feels her mother stiffen in her arms and slowly looks up. "You're like him," she whispers.

She must have heard the sound of the double heartbeat through Peyton's chest.

"A little," Peyton nods solemnly. "But I'm so much more, I swear, I would make you proud."

"Of course, my darling," she reaches a thin hand up to Peyton's face, sniffing back her tears. "No matter what, I will always be proud of you. Saving planets and whatnot."

"Doctor," Peyton whimpers. "Can't we do something? Take her with us?"

The Doctor steps into the room, his head bowed. "We can't. Her death and the events before it are fixed in time. It has to happen."

Peyton looks up at the Doctor through tears eyes and he looks away from her.

"Doctor. Are you saying that the plan, it works?" Lucy asks.

"Yes." That was the Doctor's lying face. Peyton feels the heat of anger boiling in her chest.

"But I..."

"I'm sorry," he says. "What you did, what you do, is so very brave."

Lucy nods to herself before turning back to Peyton, taking her in one last time.

"My darling, I love you," she smiles sadly. "Take this."

She reaches behind her neck and unclasps the thin gold chain of her necklace, before leaning forward to her daughter.

Peyton pulls her hair back so her mother can reach around and clasp it.

Peyton looks down at the small pendant as Lucy pulls her hands away, letting her blonde hair fall down around her shoulders.

She couldn't see the pendant before, it was tucked under Lucy's grey shirt and hidden from sight. But it wasn't a pendant at all. It was a small gold ring. A wedding band.

"I can't say your father was a very good husband," she says, staring at the ring between Peyton's fingers. "But that is the last piece of my life before this hell. And it's yours now. Consider it a late eighteenth gift, as I haven't been able to give you anything else."

"A bit late, yeah," Peyton lets the ring drop against her chest. "Thank you, but you're wrong. You gave me the best thing you possibly could. Humanity."

"Peyton-"

"I'm serious. Without you, I might have ended up like him. But thanks to you I have empathy, I appreciate the tiniest things in life. Every Christmas, and first snowfall, and every thunderstorm and sunrise. He never saw those things."

"No, I don't think he did," Lucy nods.

"Hey, you!" A voice echoes down the hallway outside. "I looked you up and you don't exist, either of you! Who do you think you are?"

The sound of many footsteps running down the hall break the bubble around Peyton and she knows she has to leave.

"Peyton," the Doctor calls anxiously.

"I have so much more to say, to ask," Peyton chokes.

"Go, go!" Lucy hugs her daughter one last time. "And be magnificant."

Peyton squeezes her mother for another second before dashing out of the cell, not looking back as she runs alongside the Doctor down the hall.

• • •

Peyton looks out into space, sitting on the floor, her legs dangling out of the Tardis doors, her body leaning against the doorframe.

She hears footsteps and then the Doctor sits down next to her, offering a mug of tea which she takes gratefully.

"How does she die, Doctor?" She asks, still staring out into the stars.

"Lucy Saxon died as the prison burnt around her," the Doctor says. "But she was trying to stop the Master."

"But he died," she frowns. "Well before I was born."

"Well, a cult of sorts tried bringing him back, and they succeeded."

"So she died for nothing," Peyton sighs.

"She died with honour, and she stopped him coming back completely. Cursed him to become a being between life and death, not quite grasping either. And because of her, I was finally able to get rid of him for good."

Peyton nods, before sipping her tea and leaning over to rest her head on the Doctor's shoulder.


	35. The Days that the Doctor Came to Stay

The loud knocking on her door below her bedroom rouses Peyton from her sleep. The knocking is unceasing and very soon drives Peyton to drag herself out of bed and toward her window to throw it open and hurl abuse at whoever deemed it necessary to harass her at this hour.

Upon heaving open the window, she looks down at the top of Brian Williams' head and frowns. She tilts her head to the side and sees the sleep ridden heads of Amy and Rory poking out of their bedroom window as well.

"Peyton, look at this," Brian calls to her, holding his arm up toward her with something small and black in his hand. Peyton rubs her eyes and looks around the London street.

Tiny black cubes are scattered around on the road, on cars, even lodged in bushes and sat on window sills.

"I'll be right down," Peyton nods.

She closes her window and throws a bomber jacket over her shoulders as she trots down the stairs and toward her front door, not forgetting her sonic pen.

She arrived on the street just as Amy and Rory emerge as well and the three of them walk up to Brian who is standing in the middle of the street, bewildered.

Peyton slowly grabs a cube off the ground and inspects it closely.

"What are they?" Rory asks through a yawn.

"Nobody knows," Brian says. "They're everywhere."

He watches expectantly as Peyton's sonic shines a blue light on the dark object.

"Where did they come from?" Amy asks.

Peyton pulls her sonic away to inspect the readings.

"No idea," she frowns. Rory opens his mouth to speak but Peyton quickly continues. "There's nothing, no readings. They can't exist."

Peyton looks to Amy and Rory, who both share expressions of concern at this. Peyton's sonic has very rarely turned up useless. They need one man now, but Peyton hasn't seen him in about a month.

"Wait," Amy mutters, her eyes fixed on something across the street.

Peyton follows her gaze and looks up to the park and sees a figure wearing a brown jacket, sitting on the rope jungle gym facing away from her, holding one of these cubes in his hands.

"Doctor?" Amy asks seriously.

"Invasion of the very small cubes, that's new." the Doctor says, turning slightly to look down at them. That idiot must have been sat there for ages waiting for them to notice him, drama queen.

• • •

"All absolutely identical," the Doctor says, pacing around the Tardis flight deck, inspecting one with a magnifying glass. "Not a single molecule's difference between them. No blemishes, imperfections, individualities."

Peyton leans on one hand against the console, the other fiddling with the gold ring hanging from her neck, watching the monitor where she flicks through international news broadcasts about the cubes, it's happening everywhere.

"What if they're bombs?" Brian asks, staring at a cube in his hands, getting everyone's attention rather swiftly. "Billions of tiny bombs. Or transport capsules, maybe with a mini robot inside. Or deadly hard drives, or alien eggs. Or messages breading decoding. Or, they're all parts of a bigger whole, jigsaw puzzles that need fitting together."

"Very thorough, Brian," the Doctor nods, tossing his cube between his hands. "Very, very thorough. Well done." He places his cube on top of Brian's. "Stay here, watch these, yell if anything happens."

He points to Amy and Rory then to two boxes lying on the floor filled with junk and scraps.

The Doctor bounces toward the door as Rory pats his father on the shoulder.

"Doctor," Peyton calls after him, looking back at the monitor before down to him again. "Is this an alien invasion? Because that's what it feels like."

Amy and Rory pick up their boxes.

"There couldn't be life forms in every cube, could there?" Rory asks as the Doctor picks up some metal tubing and hauls it over his shoulder.

"I don't know. And I really don't like not knowing."

"Here we go again," Amy sighs, just loud enough that Peyton and Rory could hear.

The four of them file out of the Tardis and into the Pond's living room. "Right, I need to use your kitchen as a lab. Cook up some cubes," the Doctor says.

"Right, I'm due at work," Rory says, setting down his box on the counter and running his fingers through his hair.

"What, you've got a job?" The Doctor frowns, filling a saucepan with water.

"Of course I've got a job," Rory perplexes. "What do you think we do when we're not with you?"

"I imagined mostly kissing," the Doctor says.

"I write travel articles for magazines, Rory heals the sick, and Peyton works for the government," Amy explains.

Peyton watches as the Doctor mouthed the word 'government' distastefully under his breath as he fixes his makeshift lab.

That reminds Peyton that her phone, still switched to silent, is lying in her pocket. She takes it out and sees quite a few missed calls from numerous people from U.N.I.T., presumably after her for answers about the cubes. There's no immediate threat right now so Peyton shoves her phone back and will get back to them later.

"My shift starts in an hour. You don't know where my scrubs are?" Rory asks Amy.

"In the lounge. Where you left them."

Rory kisses her on the cheek before turning to leave.

Amy places her box down in front of the Doctor and he starts grabbing wires and mother boards from it to piece together. Peyton finds some empty counter space and pushes herself up to sit there.

"Ah, the Ponds and Peyton. My Leadworth girls... and guy," the Doctor mutters. "With their houses and their jobs and their everyday lives. Long way from Leadworth."

"We think it's been ten years," Amy says. "Not for you two, or Earth. But for us. Ten years older, ten years of you. On and off."

"Look at you now," the Doctor says softly, gazing at Amy. "All grown up."

Suddenly, the front door crashes open. Peyton jumps off the counter as the Doctor walks around the island to stand in front of Amy as black-clad soldiers penetrate into the house. Peyton recognises their uniforms.

"Trap one, kitchen secured," the one at the lead barks into a radio as he stands in front of the Doctor, his gun still raised.

"Trap thee, back garden secured," an officer on the porch behind them yells, causing the three of them to look behind them,

"There are soldiers all over my house, and I'm in my pants," Rory's voice calls as he is marched into the kitchen at gunpoint, hands by his head and, missing his trousers.

"My whole life I dreamed of saying that, and I miss it by being someone else," Amy says, looking her husband up and down while Peyton tries to look anywhere but his bright orange underwear.

Rory clasps his hands in front of him.

"All these muscles and they still don't know how to knock," a familiar voice calls from the foyer, Rory moves out of the doorway to the Kitchen. "Sorry about the raucous entrance. Spike in artron energy reading at this address. In light of the last twenty-four hours, we had to check it out. And the dogs do love a runout." Kate steps into the kitchen and shakes her head slightly when her eyes fall on Peyton. "Hello, Kate Stewart, head of scientific research at U.N.I.T, and with dress sense like that..." she pulls out a handheld scanner up to the Doctor's chest where Peyton assumes she sees the double hearts. "... You must be the Doctor."

He salutes.

"I hoped it would be you."

"Tell me," the Doctor says. "Since when did science run the military, Kate?"

"Since me," she says proudly. "U.N.I.T's been adapting. Well, I dragged them along, kicking and screaming, which made it sound like more fun than it actually was."

"What do we know about these cubes?" Peyton steps forward, folding her arms across her chest.

"Far less than we need to," Kate flicks her coat back to dig her hands into her trouser's pockets and walking around the Time Travellers to stand next to Peyton behind the island, "We've been freighting them in from around the world for testing. So far, we've subjected them to temperatures of plus and minus two hundred degrees Celsius, simulated a water depth of five miles, dropped one out of a helicopter at ten thousand feet, and rolled our best tank over it. Always intact."

Peyton expects the Doctor to say something but he's too busy looking back and forth between Peyton and Kate as if watching an invisible tennis game.

"You work for U.N.I.T? That's your job?" The Doctor asks, his voice an octave higher than usual, putting the pieces together.

"Supposedly, if she would answer her phone," Kate says accusingly at Peyton who grimaces. "You've got a conference this evening by the way. Three-thirty, you're expected at Heathrow, getting on a plane to Switzerland."

Peyton salutes sarcastically and Kate turns back to the Doctor who is still staring at Peyton, completely confused,

"They're impressive, aren't they. Any clues as to what they are?"

"I don't want them to be impressive, and no I don't. I want them to be vulnerable with a nice Achilles heel," the Doctor snaps out of his stare and looks back to Kate, but Peyton already knows she's going to get an earful from him as soon as they're done here.

"We don't know how they got here, what they're made of or why they're here," Kate continues.

"And all around the world," the Doctor leans forward on the kitchen island before grabbing a cube and tossing it up in the air. "People are picking them up and taking them home."

"Like iPads have dropped out of the sky. Taking them to work, taking pictures, making films, posting them on Flickr and YouTube. Within three hours, the cubes had a thousand separate Twitter accounts."

"Twitter!" The Doctors curses under his breath.

"Should we treat this as a hostile incursion?" Peyton asks.

"I believe that's your call, as that is allegedly your job," Kate says with a sarcastic smile, the Doctor starts pacing.

"Right," Peyton nods. "So we gather them up, and lock them in a secure facility but that would take massive international agreement and co-operation. Do we even have an estimate on how many there are?"

Kate shakes her head.

"We need evidence," the Doctor folds his arms. "The cubes arrived in plain sight, in vast quantities, as the sun rose, so what does that tell us?" He throws his arms around Amy and Rory's shoulders.

"Maybe they wanted to be seen. Noticed," Amy hypothesises.

"Or more than that, they wanted to be observed," the Doctor says. "So we observe them. Stay with them. Round the clock. Watch the cubes, day and night. Record absolutely everything about them. Team cube, in it together."

"I'll get out of your hair then," Kate nods. She throws up a hand signal to the soldiers who dutifully file out. "It was a pleasure to finally meet you."

The Doctor nods with a smile.

"Peyton, a docket will be emailed to you promptly with everything we know about the cubes so far and a draft speech has already been written up which I'm sure you'll ignore anyway. In any case, you'll be broadcast worldwide so wear something nice. You'll be updated throughout the day if any new developments come to light. I'll see you in Geneva."

She nods to Amy and Rory before walking back through the house.

"Right..." Rory sighs, clapping his hands together. "I'll get my trousers and go."

"I guess, I'll go pack," Peyton nods as she watches Rory head back up the stairs before walking to the front door herself.

A hand grabs her forearm though in the hallway.

"You work for U.N.IT?" The Doctor questions her with an arched eyebrow.

"I thought you knew," Peyton pulls her arm from his grip. "I'm the minister for extra-terrestrial affairs, which basically means half my job is stopping the government from labelling _you_ as a threat."

"But, Peyton," he lowers his voice so Amy, who was peering on from the kitchen can hear. "What they did to you as a child..."

"Yeah, I was there."

"I just..." the Doctor seems to struggle for the right words. "Do they know?"

"Kate does," Peyton nods, over-protective uncle Doctor was a pain in the ass. "Plus the colonel and the brigadier. Top secret, classified."

He nods but his eyes seem resentful.

"Doctor, what else am I supposed to do when you're not around," she hisses. "Lecture at a university; boring. Be a mathematician; I'd rather gouge my eyes out. Doctor this is the only job on this planet where I can actually be myself and help people. Anywhere else I have to dumb down and be human. I'm doing something where I can help humans and aliens alike and I can do it without you babysitting me and deciding what's good for me!"

Peyton storms off and flings open the door. She freezes and turns back to the Doctor.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"I know," he cracks a smile.

"Wanna give me a lift to the airport? The train lines are covered in cubes so the Tube is down." She flashes him her most convincing smile, turning up the charm in her voice, she knows her trick doesn't work on him but he rolls his eyes and nods.

Peyton dashes out to pack an overnight bag.

• • •

"Four days, nothing!" The Doctor complains, hanging off the sofa in between Amy and Rory, his eyes fixed on a stack of cubes on their coffee table. Peyton sits in the archway to the living room, leaning against it as she furiously replies to the mountains of emails she is receiving from all across the world from frantic world leaders. "Not a single change in any cube, anywhere in the world. Four days and I am still in your lounge!" He pulls himself up.

"You're the one who wanted to observe them," Amy groans.

"Yes, well, I thought they'd do something, didn't I? Not just sit there while everyone eats endless cereal!"

"You said we had to be patient," Rory sighs as the Doctor pushes himself over the back of the couch and marches up to the hall, Peyton pulling her mug of tea out of the Doctor's path without looking up just in time.

"Yes, you, you!" The Doctor points as he storms back into the living room. "Not me! I hate being patient! Patience is for wimps!"

He throws himself back down on the couch between the Ponds dramatically.

"I can't live like this," he says quietly. "Don't make me, I need to be busy."

"Fine!" Amy bursts. "Be busy! We'll watch the cubes."

• • •

"Brian!" The Doctor falters as he jumps up to the flight deck after his hour-long temper tantrum. "You're still here."

Peyton bounds up the steps behind him to see Rory's dad sitting in the brown chair quite contently,

"You told me to watch the cubes."

"Four days ago."

"Ah!" He laughs. "Doesn't time fly when you're alone with your thoughts?"

"You can't just leave, Doctor," Rory says.

"Yes, of course you can. Quick jaunt, restore sanity. Ooh, hey, come if you like," the Doctor says as Brian gets up,

"They can't just go off like that," Brian reasons.

"Can't they?" He frowns. "Can't you? That's how it goes, isn't it?"

"I've got my job," Rory sighs.

"Oh, yes, Rory," the Doctor looks at him sarcastically. "The universe is awaiting, but you have a little job to-"

"Ah, it's not little," he rebuts. "It's important to me. Look, what you do isn't all there is."

"Never said it was," the Doctor says quietly, hiding his hurt. "Alright, fine. Just Peyton then."

"Sorry, Doctor," she looks to the floor. "I'm under strict orders to stay here. Got a whole planet to keep in order."

"Okay," the Doctor looks away from all of them. "Monitor the cubes. Call me. I'll have the Tardis set to every Earth newsfeed."

The Ponds and Brian walk toward the door but Peyton stays, just wanting to make sure he's okay. He looks up and watches them go sadly.

"I'll see you around, Doctor," Peyton nods.

"Yes, yes. Yeah," he nods, pointedly fiddling with the controls.

With nothing more to be said, Peyton turns to leave.

"Peyton," he calls, just as she's about to pull the doors open again. She spins to look up at him. "Ask Kate how she manages to get you to follow orders, I'd like to know that trick."

"It's called a paycheck," Peyton smiles, and the Doctor cracks one too. She steps out of the Tardis into the Ponds' living room and watching the Time Lord dematerialise.

• • •

Peyton smiles as Rory brings her a cup of tea, placing it on the coffee table.

"When was the last time you slept?" He asks, his eyes flicking over her haphazard messy bun and sweater cover in crumbs, two discarded packets of crisps on the sofa beside her.

"I'm fine," she assures him. "It's just emails, and your dad's log."

Rory chuckles. "Yes, at least you don't have him camping out in your kitchen."

"How are you enjoying the new gig, full time?" Peyton asks.

"Yeah, it's weird, I mean, I love it. Ask me a few years ago and I thought it would have been a no brainer, but since we've been with the Doctor, I just assumed it would last forever, just working to fill in the gaps when he's not here."

"You two are thinking of stopping," Peyton realises.

"We don't want to never see him again," Rory assures her, sitting on the couch beside her. "But I think we're starting to enjoy a normal life."

"You're going to leave me alone with _him_ ," Peyton says jokingly, covering her disappointment. Rory laughs.

"I'll leave you to saving the world," he pats her on the shoulder and gets to his feet.

• • •

"We saw you on the telly last night," Peyton's father tells her. "Every time you're on we get the whole town to watch our little girl."

Peyton smiles and laughs to herself at her parents' amazement at her appearances on the television. June had rolled around, about nine months since the cubes arrived. It was Amy and Rory's wedding anniversary and everyone they knew had been invited to cram into their back garden, but one guest had not made an appearance.

"I still don't understand exactly what you do, dear," her mother says. "Do you really talk to aliens?"

"Yes, mum," Peyton laughs, motioning for her to keep her voice down. "But mostly classified things, I wish I could tell you, but I can't."

"Darling, what's that?" Her father asks, his eyes fixed on the gold ring hanging from her neck,

Peyton freezes, realising she had not seen her parents since the Doctor took her to see her birth mum.

"Don't you remember, silly?" She says, focusing all of her willpower into her voice. "It's my birth mum's wedding ring, you gave it to me when I turned eighteen."

She watches as her parents' eyes glaze over for a second before they both smile again.

"Dear me, I must be getting old," he father laughs.

"So how's your friend?" Her mother changes the subject. "The one, you know, you and Amy and Rory are always hanging around with in all your lovely pictures from your travels."

"The Doctor?" Peyton raises an eyebrow, he dad scoffs, he doesn't seem to like him very much. "He's fine, I guess. Haven't seen him in a while."

"When are we going to hear a happy announcement from the two of you?"

Peyton nearly chokes on her wine.

"Mum! I've told you a thousand times, we're not together," she wipes her mouth with the back of her wrist.

"I know you told you that you're, oh what are you kids calling it these days, bisexual? But I would really like grandkids one of these days, so sad that Amy can't have them."

"Mum," Peyton says more sternly. "I don't want kids, I've also told you that."

"You'll see when you're older, but time is running out, dear."

"You've been saying that since I was twelve."

"Ladies," Peyton's dad steps in before placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "We don't care if you have kids or not, we love you."

"Thanks, dad. I love you too."

Someone grabs Peyton's hands and she turns her head to see Amy.

"Uh, can I steal P for a minute," she asks. "Love the dress by the way, Teresa."

"Okay, dears," Peyton's mum laughs as Amy pulls her toward the house.

• • •

The Doctor's anniversary gift for the Ponds turned out to be a little extended, but as promised, he did get them all back in time.

By the time the guests had all left, the Doctor, Peyton, Amy, and Rory were in the garden, cleaning up. Well, Peyton and Rory were cleaning up.

"Can I, stay? Here. With you?" The Doctor asks. "For a bit. Keep an eye on the cubes. However long that takes," he taps the cube in Amy's hand.

Peyton puts down the pile of plates she was carrying and walks over to them.

"I thought it would drive you mad," Amy says.

"No, no, no. I mean, I'll be better at it this time. I, miss you."

"You can park yourself at my house," Peyton says, nodding toward the fence. "I even have a fold-out of you want."

"It's a very comfy fold out," Rory adds, appearing behind her.

"Yeah?" The Doctor smiles. "Peyton and I, roommates? Smashing!"

• • •

"Thank you, Mr Cameron," Peyton says as she hangs up on the Prime Minister. She chucks her phone on her bed and walks over to her window to open it for some fresh air. She hardly notices the cube on the windowsill, it had been there for months.

Just as she turns away, something moves in the corner of her vision. She spins back around and sees the surface of the cube ripple before changing colour and pattern to look like white wood.

She quickly snatched it up and it ripples again to match the colour and texture of her palm, it's even warm.

She drops it in disgust and watches as it ripples to match her carpet.

That's when she hears a shout and a crash from her lounge.

She races down the stairs where she almost slams into the Doctor as she rounds the corner. "The cubes!"

"Doctor!" Rory calls as the front door bursts open, Rory bowling into the foyer. "Hi, er, the cube in there, it just opened."

"A cube in my bedroom just spiked me and took my pulse!" Amy barrels into the foyer not long after her husband.

"Mine seems to think it's a chameleon."

"Ha! Really? Mine fired laser bolts and now it's surfing the net!"

Brian is the last to tumble into the house. "You're never going to believe this. My cube just moved. It rattled!"

The Doctor laughs as Rory's phone buzzes, reminding Peyton that she's probably going to get a call from U.N.I.T any second now.

"Doctor," she calls as she races upstairs to grab her phone. "Can I get a ride to the Tower?"

When Peyton grabs it off the bed and immediately sees a missed call from Kate, as she runs back down to the foyer, she taps out a text saying she's on her way.

"Keep away from the cubes," Amy says before kissing her husband on the cheek and he and his dad rush out the door to leave. Peyton reckons it was the hospital calling.

"Come along, Doctor, Pond," Peyton says, jumping the last couple of steps and then grabbing her sonic pen from the hall table, tossing it in the air and catching it again. "We're wanted at the Tower of London."

• • •

"Every cube, across the whole world, activated at the same moment," Kate explains as she walks beside Peyton, the Doctor and Amy walking behind them.

"Now we're in business," the Doctor says, excitedly. Peyton sends him a look indicating that his tone was slightly inappropriate.

"A secret base beneath the Tower. Hope we're not here cause we know too much," Amy says cynically.

"Yes, I've got officers trained in beheading," Kate stops their procession. "Also, ravens of death."

"She's kidding," Peyton flashes Amy a smile, as Kate continues on. "This is my office."

"I like her," Amy muses. The Doctor nods.

The three time travellers catch up to Kate as she leads them into the cube containment room.

"We have fifty being monitored and more coming in all the time," she explains." Peyton looks around at all the individual cubes in booths with large windows. Some have people in there, some alone. All of them seem to be doing something different. "I don't know how useful it is. Every cube is behaving individually. There's no meaningful pattern. Some respond to proximity. Some create mood swings.."

"Well, what's this one?" Amy asks, looking into a booth where a lone cube isn't doing anything at all."

"Try the door," Kate says.

Amy yanks open the metal door and the incredibly loud sound of the Birdie Song starts playing.

"On a loop!" Kate yells over the noise as the Doctor sticks his fingers in his ears. Amy slams the door.

Peyton's eyes catch on the large monitors surrounding a desk at the other end of the room, she heads over.

"This is the latest," Kate says, appearing behind her.

"That's not good," Peyton mutters, looking over a man she didn't recognise's shoulder at the screens. "They've breached the Pentagon, China, the Middle East, every African nation."

"I've got governments screaming for explanations, or rather, _you_ have," Kate says.

"Well, I've got nothing either," Peyton steps away. "Doctor!" She calls. "Come have a look at this."

He bounds over quickly and takes one look at the screens before wincing.

"We're lost, Doctor," Kate admits.

"Don't despair, Kate. Your dad never did."

Kate looks at the Doctor, bewildered. Peyton looks between them, quite confused.

"Kate Stewart," the Doctor sighs. "Heading up U.N.I.T, changing the way they work. How could you not be? Why did you drop Lethbridge?"

"I didn't want any favours," she replies. "Though he guided me, even to the end. 'Science leads,' he always told me. Said he'd learnt that from an old friend."

"We don't let him down. We don't let this planet down."

A beeping on the computers turns Peyton's attention away from the conversation. She looks at the flat lines that just before we're spiking and fluctuating.

"They've stopped," the man says. "The cubes. Across the world. They just shut down."

"Active for forty seven minutes, and then they just die?" Kate perplexes.

"Not dead. Dormant, maybe," the Doctor suggests.

"Then why shut down?" Amy frowns.

"I don't know," the Doctor mutters. "I don't know. I need to think. I need some air. Who has an underground base?"

"Amy," Peyton says as he walks off. "Supervise him."

"On it."

Peyton turns back to the screen and rubs her face.

"So, have you got an action plan?" Kate asks.

"Uh, no," she squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. "They're dormant, no longer a threat but we don't know for how long. The Doctor said he saw one looking at information from the internet. Maybe they're here for reconnaissance."

"If they are there's nothing we can do now," Kate huffs. "They've clearly finished what they needed to do."

"I still think we should get them away from the people as much as possible, I'll send out an email to presidents, monarchs, and prime ministers now. But it's going to be a lot of effort."

• • •

"They made a complete assessment of Planet Earth and its inhabitants," the Doctor says, almost barrelling into Peyton.

The Lights switch off in the Tower. That shouldn't be possible.

The Doctor and Amy have just run back into the building, the Time Lord is wide-eyed as he always is when he finally realises something.

"That's what the surge of activity was," Peyton realises.

"Problem with the power?" The Doctor asks.

"Not possible, we've got back-ups," Kate says, pulling a torch from an emergency panel on the wall.

The Doctor pulls out his sonic to start scanning around, so Peyton follows suit, setting her pen to scan for the origins of the power failure.

They soon find themselves back in the now pitch black cube containment room but a soft blue glow pierces the darkness, and its not from Peyton's sonic.

She turns it off and Amy walks side by side up to one of the booths and peers into it where the lone cube pictures the number seven from its core.

"Doctor, look," Peyton says. The Time Lord rushes over and points his sonic at it but from the look on his face, the reading isn't revealing anything.

"Why do they all say seven?" Kate asks.

"Seven. Seven, what's important about seven?" The Doctors frowns, putting his sonic away.

"Seven wonders of the world," Peyton says.

"Seven streams of the River Ota," the Doctor muses.

"Seven sides of a cube," Peyton murmurs, staring intensely at the object.

"A cube has six sides," Amy counters.

"Not if you count the inside."

The lights come back on in the room as the cube portrays a number six, replacing the seven.

Peyton looks around the room, every other cube is the same, which means this is happening everywhere.

"It has to be a countdown," the Doctor says he marches toward the monitors and control desk, Peyton, Kate, and Amy are quick to follow.

"Not in minutes," Kate says.

"Why would it be in minutes, Kate?" He argues.

"We have to get everyone away from the cubes faster now," Peyton says. "I've done all I can, I don't know how to make the leaders mobilise quicker. I don't want to know what happens when they hit zero the hard way."

"Get on every news channel, send out an SMS to every smartphone on the planet," the Doctor instructs. "Humanity has to know that the cubes are dangerous."

"Okay, but why is this starting now?" Amy asks. "I mean, the cubes arrived months ago. Why wait this long?"

"Because they're clever," the Doctor shakes his head. "Allow people enough time to collect them, take them into their homes, their lives. Humans, the great early adopters. And then, wham! Profile every inch of Earth's existence."

"Discover how best to attack us," Kate nods.

Peyton turns to a techie frantically typing away at the control desk. "You, we need SMS, TV, radio broadcasts. The cubes are not safe. Get everyone to remove the cubes however they can. Go!"

The man scrambles away from the computers as the Doctor barrels forward to take his place, typing furiously.

"Right. Every cube was activated, there must be signals, energy fluctuations on a colossal scale, there must be some trace. There can't not be. We need to think of all the variables, all the possibilities. Okay, go, go, go, go, go!"

• • •

"Doctor, please. You don't have to do this," Amy pleads with him as he leans against the window sill of a containment booth and gazed in at the cube inside.

"She's right, I'm getting a salary for protecting this planet, this is just your hobby. Let me go in there," Peyton says.

"Neither of you has to be in there," Kate disagrees. "We can do this remotely."

"Remotely isn't my style," the Doctor spins around to face her.

"Doctor, I've made my decision. You're not going in there, I am," Peyton says firmly.

The Doctor turns to her, holding her face in his hands. He taps her cheek twice. "No."

He steps back, kissing both his palms in turn before smacking them against Amy and Peyton's forehead and running around to the door before Peyton can stop him.

Peyton watches, unhappily, as he takes a seat beside the cube, staring down at it and the glowing number two inside it intently. He spins it, as if daring it to make its next move.

Peyton feels Amy's hand wrap around hers and she gives it a protective squeeze.

The Doctor looks up to them and Peyton only notices how worried she must look when she forces an encouraging smile that is dropped as soon as he looks back down at the cube.

They all watch as several seconds pass before the number changes yet again. The glowing number one glares at Peyton menacingly, she winces, just over a minute to go. It was quickly observed that the cubes were portraying each number for seventy-two seconds. Peyton and the Doctor have both racked their brains to think of what could possibly take seventy-two seconds. It was too specific.

When the number zero flashed onto every cube around the world, Peyton was slightly underwhelmed. Nothing was happening. After a few seconds, however, the blue numerals disappeared, leaving the cubes black and lifeless again.

Amy's grip tightens on Peyton's hand as each painful second of nothing happening slips by.

Then, the top of the cub slowly slides open, revealing the seventh side.

"Geronimo."

She stands on her toes, trying to peer into the cube but can't from where she's standing. She settles for watching the Doctor slowly lean forward.

"What's happening?" Kate asks but doesn't get an answer.

"Well, what's in there?" Peyton asks.

"There is nothing in here," he says darkly.

"Um, well, that's good," Amy loosens her grip on Peyton's "It's not, it's not bombs, it's not aliens."

"Why, why is there nothing inside?" The Doctor gets to his feet and storms out of the booth. "Why? It doesn't make any sense. Glasses? Is it the same? Is it the same around the world?" He calls to the technician at the computers, dashing toward them.

"They're empty. We're safe. Right?" Kate asks, jogging after the Doctor with Peyton and Amy.

"I doubt it," Peyton shakes her head.

"We are very far from safe," the Doctor agrees. "All along, every action has been deliberate. Why draw attention to the cubes if they don't contain anything?"

"Doctor, Peyton, look," Amy points out, eyes fixed on the monitors.

"They're CCTV feeds from across the world, they're showing the same," the techie says. Peyton stares at the pixelated images. People, all around the globe clutching their chests and falling to the ground,

"People are dying!" Kate gasps.

"How are they dying? That's not possible," Peyton claps her necklace, running the ring across the chain back and forth. "Can we trace that? Get any readings? I want diagnoses."

"The cubes brought people close together," the Doctor tubs his forehead, beginning to pace back and forth. They opened and-"

The Doctor groans in pain and falls backwards into a chair, clutching his chest. The force of it pushes him into the centre of the room.

"Doctor, what's the matter?" Amy says, running over to him. Peyton is quick to follow.

"I don't know," the Doctor cries.

"Hospitals are logging a global surge in heart failures, cardiac arrests."

"That's it!" The Doctor gasps, still clutching his chest. "Only one heart! Other one's not working."

"Okay! We're going to get you to the hospital!" Amy shrieks, grabbing the back of his chair and pointing his toward the exit.

"No, no, no!" The Doctor yells. "Just a short circuit, turn around, turn around!"

Amy does as she is told and pushes him back toward the monitors.

"Tell me, show me. Ten seconds after the cubes opened, show me the patterns in their electrical currents."

The technician pulls up several electrical charts.

"See?" The Doctor says.

"No!" Peyton says wide-eyed in disbelief.

"Yes, the power cut. They sucked the power and then, argh! They're signal boxes! People leaving in, wham! Pure electrical surge out of the cube targeted and the nearest human heart. The heart, an organ powered by electrical currents, short-circuited. How to destroy a human?"

"Go for the heart?" Peyton nods.

"Ow!" The Doctor groans. "Crikey Moses!"

"Doctor," Kate says. "The scan you set running, the transmitter locations, it's found them."

"Oh, look at them all. Pulsing, bold as brass. Seven of them, all across the world," he hits his chest several times. "Ow! Seven stations, seven minutes, why is that important?"

He groans loudly, throwing his head back. Peyton grabs his bicep to stop himself from falling off the chair.

"How do you people manage?" he whines. "One heart, it is pitiful."

Amy rolls her eyes over him to Peyton who smiles unsurely.

"A wormhole. The Doctor continues. "Bridging two dimensions. Seven of them hitched onto this planet, but where's the closest one?" Glasses, zoom in!"

The map of the world gets bigger and bigger, focusing on the yellow marker over the south of England. It's London. North west. The Prince Royal Hospital.

"That's the hospital where Rory works," Amy gasps.

• • •

"How many deaths have been recorded?" Peyton asks as she marches through the hospital with Kate, the Doctor, and Amy at her side.

"We don't know," Kate says. "We think it could be a third of the population."

"Kate, we have to find the wormhole, but attacks could still happen," the Doctor says, still clutching his chest. "Tell the world. Tell them how to deal with this, I need Peyton with me right now. The world needs your leadership right now."

"I'll do my best," Kate nods.

"Of course you will. Good luck," the Doctor smiles before Kate jogs back to the exit with her guards.

With a groan, the Doctor falls over to lean on the wall, Peyton and Amy both rush to his sides.

"Okay, how long are you going to last with only one heart?" Amy asks, swinging one of his arms around her shoulders as Peyton does the same.

"Not much longer. I need to locate the wormhole portal," he insists.

Peyton nods, trying to hold his weight while pulling out her sonic pen she points it forward, scanning for the source but pulls the Doctor and Amy to a stop as she notices the little girl, giving her sonic pen very interesting readings.

"Oh, hello," the Doctor pants.

"You are giving off very strange signals," Peyton tries to get the girls attention but she continues staring blankly ahead.

Peyton presses her sonic screwdriver closer to her, the girls face lights up blue, the same shade that the cubes were projecting in the numbers.

"Oh, my God," Amy gasps,

"Outlier droid, monitoring everything," the Doctor says, slumping in their arms. "If you shut her down, you can.."

The Doctor groans in pain again but Peyton focuses on this little girl. She manages to deactivate her, catching her before she hits the floor and then turning her attention to the Doctor who is sliding down the wall in pain.

"I can't, Amy, Peyton! I can't do it! I need both hearts!"

He hits the floor and Peyton feels Amy tug at her arm, turning her around to see the defibrillator kit on a trolly behind them. The two girls nod to each other before grabbing it.

"Alright, desperate measures!" Amy says, chucking it down on the floor.

"What? No, no, no," the Doctor protests. "That won't work on a Time Lord."

Neither Peyton nor Amy are paying him any attention as they drop to their knees either side of him.

Peyton reaches over and rips open his shirt, exposing his chest while Amy gets the defibrillator pads ready.

"No, no!" He groans.

Peyton and Amy make eye contact across his body and Peyton nods to her.

"All right!" Amy yells. "Clear!"

She places the pads on his chest and a bolt of electricity pulses through the Doctor's body.

Both girls jump back as the Doctor scrambles to his feet with a cheer. "Whooo! Welcome back, Lefty!"

Amy discards the defibrillator and jumps up as well with Peyton, watching the Doctor's erratic movements, afraid that he will tumble to the floor again.

"Wahoo! Two hearts! Woo!" He punches the sky, looking very odd as his shirt is only being held together by his bow tie and where it's tucked into his pants. "Back in the game!"

He runs up and kisses both Amy and Peyton's foreheads before his face turns serious. "Never do that to me again."

"Doctor, I know where we'll find the portal," Peyton says after snapping herself back to action and looking down at her sonic.

"Lead the way," he beams, beginning to button his shirt back up.

Peyton leads them through the busy corridors, not sure where she is going to end up, only having been to the hospital once before. To grab painkillers for Amy from the attached pharmacy.

Quickly they find themselves in a deserted hallway, odd for the current crisis. Peyton's sonic points her down to follow it along until they reach a supposedly out of service lift, but the signage had been ripped apart.

Confused, she leans forward and presses the button to call it. The doors slide open straight away.

"Ah, portal to another dimension in a goods life," Amy says, almost disappointed.

The Doctor points his own sonic forward. "The energy signals converge here," he shrugs, tucking it away. "Does seem a bit cramped though."

Amy and Peyton follow the Doctor inside and look at each of the walls. It's unassuming, slightly dingy, and overwhelmingly boring. But something catches the Doctor's eye and he pokes a finger at one of the metal walls which ripples under his touch as if the surface of a body of water.

He looks between his two companions with a smile. "Through the looking glass, ladies?"

He offers a hand to each of them and they take it with a small giggle before the three of them step forward through the portal.

"Where are we?" Amy asks as Peyton looks around the spaceship. It seemed to be a sickbay, humans captured and asleep line the walls on uncomfortable looking platforms and not much else.

"We're in orbit," the Doctor answers. "One dimension to the left."

"Rory!" Amy exclaims as she spots the unconscious body of her husband, rigidly positioned on one of the nearest platforms.

The three time travellers rush to his side, Peyton quickly taking his pulse. He's fine, just asleep. Brian is here too, except in a hospital gurney placed next to his son. The Doctor tosses something to Amy.

"Soborian smelling salts," he explains. "Outlawed in seven galaxies."

Amy quickly breaks off a piece and waves it beneath Rory's nose who sits bolt upright immediately. But just as he does, someone starts shooting at them, sending sparks off the wall where they missed.

"Whoa! The Doctor cries. "What kind of a welcome do you call that?" He turns to Peyton, Amy, and Rory. "Get them out of here, you three. Now!"

"What are you going to do," Peyton hisses after him, thankfully without the threat of being shot looming over their heads. It seems whoever did this was just sending a warning shot,

"Absolutely no idea," the Doctor scampers you the other side of Brian's gurney, releasing the brakes and pushing him off with Amy and Rory steering him away. Peyton stays back though. The Ponds can handle this, she was staying with the Doctor.

Another shot is fired which widely misses all of them, Peyton hopes on purpose, just to scare them.

"So many of them," a raspy voice says. "Crawling the planet, seeping into every corner."

Peyton looks at the source of the voice to see a humanoid creature, it's skin cracked and dried, and incredibly pale. It's egg shaped head has two black devices fixed to the skull either side of its eyes, computer augmentation maybe.

But in a flash, it's gone, a hologram.

"Doctor, where did it-"

"Didn't I tell you to go with the Ponds?"

The hologram flashes into sight again across the room in front of several hexagonal monitors, catching the Doctor's attention away from his disobedient companion.

Peyton and the Doctor slowly walk toward it, around the other side of the transparent screens as the creature didn't seem eager to attack them again, instead, working away at the interface.

"It's not possible," the Doctor mutters, peering through the glass at it.

"What is it, Doctor?"

"A myth, or so I thought. myth to keep the young of Gallifrey in their place. The Shakri."

"The Shakri exist in all of time," it responds, raising a hand with long yellow fingernails. "And none. We travel alone and together... the Seven."

"The Shakri craft, connected to Earth, through seven portals and seven minutes. But why?"

"Serving the word of the Tally."

"I hate it when bad guys are cryptic. Why do they always not make any sense," Peyton says exasperatedly. The Doctor pushes a finger against her lips without taking his eyes off the creature.

"Why the cubes? Why Earth?"

Peyton bats away his hand.

"Not Earth. Humanity," it says. "The Shakri will halt the human plague before the spread."

"Erase humanity before it colonises space."

"Hang on, we aren't all English," Peyton jests. She sees the Doctor fight a smile before he walks around the monitors again. But Peyton is very happy staying where she is, out of the path of another blast from whatever weapon it has concealed.

"We thought the cubes were an invasion," the Doctor says. "The start of a war."

"The human contagion only, must be eliminated."

"Who are you calling a contagion," Amy's scottish accent is accompanied by two sets of feet re-entering the spacecraft.

"Oi! Didn't I tell you two to go!" The Doctor chastises.

"You should have learned by now," Rory scoffs. "And Peyton got to stay."

"Yeah, and what's this Tally anyway?" Amy asks.

"Some people call it Judgement Day. Or the Reckoning," the Doctor explains.

"Don't you know?" Peyton asks.

"I've never wanted to find out."

"Before the Closure, there is a Tally. The Shakri serves the Tally!"

"The pest-controllers of the universe," the Doctor sighs. "That's how the tales went, isn't it?"

"Wow. That's some seriously weird bedtime story," Amy chuckles darkly.

"You can talk; wolf in your grandmother's nightdress?" The Doctors shakes his head at her before turning back to the Shakri. "So," he claps and begins to pace around it. Peyton creeps over to stand by Amy and Rory. "Here you are, depositing slug pellets all over the Earth. Made attractive so humans will collect them, hoping to find something beautiful inside. Because that's what they are. Not pests or plague, creatures of hope. Forever building and reaching. Making mistakes, of course, every life form does. But... But they learn. And they strive for greater and they achieve it. You want a tally. Put their achievements against their failings, through the whole of Tiem. I will back humanity against the Shakri every time."

The creature chuckles as the Doctor comes to a stop beside his friends.

"The Tally," it affirms. "Must he met. The second wave will be released."

"What does that mean?" Amy frowns.

"It's going to release more cubes to kill more people," Peyton says.

"The human plague; breeding and fighting," it says, getting up from its computer and walking toward them, causing the time travellers to slowly inch backward. "And when cornered, they rage to destroy. You're too late, Doctor, Apprentice. The Tally... shall be met."

At first, Peyton is just chuffed that it knows of her, then she remembers that it is an all knowing creature from another dimension and she is less excited.

The thing disappears once again.

"He's gone," Rory says, confused.

"He was never really here. A hologram," Peyton assures him.

"The ships automated interface," the Doctor continues. "Like a talking propaganda poster."

He dashed back to the monitors, the three Earthlings follow after him.

"I can stop the second wave," he says, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and sets to work. "I can disconnect all the Shakri craft from their portals, leave them drifting in the dark space."

"But the people who have already died," Peyton says. "We can't do anything to save them."

"I restarted one of your hearts," Amy turns to the Doctor. He snaps his fingers in her direction.

"You'd need mass defibrillation," Rory realises. The Doctor snaps his fingers in his direction.

"Of course. Ah, beautiful, but, Ponds, Peyton! We are going to go one better than that," the Doctor says. "The Shakri used the cubes to turn people's hearts off-"

"So, we're going to use them to turn them back on again!" Peyton laughs.

"Bingo!" He pats her on the head.

"Will that work?" Amy asks sceptically.

"Well," the Doctor grimaces. "Creatures of hope. Has to." He sets his sonic back on the display. "Thirty seconds. Don't let me down, cubes, you're working for me now."

The ship begins to shake quite violently and the screens go haywire.

"Oh dear," the Doctor says. "All those cubes, there's going to be a terrible wave of energy ricocheting around here any second. Run?"

• • •

It worked, around the world. People recovered from the cubes and the world was set back as it was. Peyton made a statement to the world at when they got back the U.N.I.T headquarters, telling a carefully constructed white lie to placate the public and not send them into hysteric fear.

They had dinner at the Ponds' with Brian as well before they dove back into all of time and space. Rory's father had wished them well on their travels, telling the Doctor to keep the three of them safe.

Rory and Amy had headed up to their bedrooms immediately while Peyton stayed behind by the console with the Doctor, not quite tired yet. Planning to perhaps head to the library and read up on her Gallifreyan fairy tales.

"I was impressed today," the Doctor says, catching her attention. "Seeing you at U.N.I.T. Taking charge, saving the world all by yourself."

"So you're not upset by me working there any more?" She asks sarcastically.

He chuckles and raised his hands in defeat. "Peyton, as long as you're happy, I'm happy."

"Sap," she teases.

He pretends to look offended but can't keep up the charade before laughing again. "Don't stay up too late."

"You're not my dad," she rolls her eyes with a smile.

"I know, I know," he spins a router on the console. "But I would be proud if you were my daughter."

Peyton's chest fills with pride and her cheeks redden. She turns and heads up the stairs, toward the direction of the library.

"Any recommendations on where to go next?" He asks as she reaches the landing.

She turns to look down at him on the flight deck. "Maybe we could take Rory and Amy to the fire gardens at Glaradia, I loved that place. Or back to meet Boudicca, I'd love to meet her. And maybe New York, we haven't been there in a while."

"Glaradia, Ancient Britain, and present-day Manhattan," the Doctor smiles. "I believe that's a perfectly good itinerary."


	36. The Day that They Lost Them Both

New York was lovely this time of year. The four time travellers sit in Central Park, lazing in the sun and reading. It was a lovely break from the monsters and running, well deserved, Peyton reckons. She intently reads her first edition copy of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, brand new too. It was her favourite book as a kid.

"New York growled at my window," the Doctor begins reading aloud again. Amy had only just got him to shut up five minutes ago. "But I was ready for it. My stocking seams were straight and my lipstick was combat-ready. And I was packing cleavage that could fell an ox at twenty feet."

"Doctor, you're doing it again," Peyton warns, without looking up from her book, lying on her front on the picnic rug beside Rory who appears to be dozing.

"I'm reading!"

"Out loud," Amy sighs, sitting back to back with the Time Lord, reading glasses perched on her nose. "Please could you not?"

"There's something different about you, isn't there?" The Doctor says, turning around to gaze at her scrutinisingly.

"What's the book?" Rory asks, clearly not actually asleep and just taking in the serenity of the park.

"Melody Malone," the Doctor replies. "She's a private detective in old town New York."

"She's got ice in her heart and a kiss on her lips," Amy recites dramatically, a quote from the Doctor's narration mere minutes ago.

"And a vulnerable side she keeps well hidden," Peyton adds in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, you've both read it?"

"You read it. Aloud," Amy snaps. "And then went 'Yowzah!'."

"Y'know, only you could fancy someone in a book," Rory props himself up on an elbow.

"I'm just reading it," the Doctor says quickly, clearly not a fan of the sudden protest to his reading habits. "I just like the cover."

"Ooh," Amy turns to him excitedly. "Can we see the cover?"

"No, no, I'm busy," the Doctor stows the book away from Amy's sight hastily, only making Peyton even more intrigued as to what could be on the cover. She places her bookmark between the pages. "It's your hair." He leans forward to sniff her hair. "Is it your hair?"

"Oh, shut up, it's the glasses," Amy huffs. "I'm wearing reading glasses now, on my nose, see? There you go."

"I don't like them. They make your eyes look all liney, don't you reckon, Peyton?"

The blonde girl keeps her mouth shut, pretending to be very interesting in the binding of her novel.

The Doctor lifts up Amy's glasses before adjusting them awkwardly. "No, actually, sorry. They're fine, carry on."

"Okay, I'm gonna get us more coffee," Rory says very quickly, hoping to escape this awkward situation. He gets to his feet. "Who wants more coffee? Me too, I'll go!"

"Rory?" Amy calls just as her husband turns to leave. The Doctor buries himself back in his book. "Do I have noticeable lines on my eyes now?"

"Yes," the Doctor says.

"No," Rory counters, still staring straight ahead.

"You didn't look."

"I noticed them earlier," Rory slowly turns back to her, stiffly. " _Didn't_ notice them. I specifically remember not noticing them."

Peyton holds back a chuckle.

"You walk among fire pits, centurion," Amy glares over at him.

"Do I, have to come over there?" He asks with a smirk, walking slowly back to their picnic spot on the rock.

"Can if you like."

"Well, we have company."

"I'll get a babysitter."

Rory squats down to kiss his wife, uncaring of his best friends sitting beside them.

"Oh, do you know, it is so humiliating when you do that," the Doctor scoffs. Peyton sits up as the two break apart.

"Coffee?" Rory asks.

"Coffee," Amy nods.

"I'll get one too," Peyton calls after him as he leaves without asking her.

He spins and continues walking backwards, giving her a thumbs up and a cheeky smile. She pokes her tongue out at him. He returns the gesture.

"Can I have a go?" The Doctor asks, referring to Amy's glasses. He doesn't give her time to answer though, simply snatching them off her face. "Oh!" He exclaims as he looks down at his book with the spectacles on. "Actually, that is much better. That is exciting."

"Read to us," Amy says, moving herself to sit back to back with the Doctor again.

"I thought you didn't like me reading aloud?"

"Shut up, and read us a story," Amy says.

"Just don't go 'Yowzah!'," Peyton says, shuffling over to lay her head in Amy's lap. Amy laughs at this and entangles a hand in her best friend's hair.

"Rory's going to love coming back to see this," she sighs happily.

"Oh, he's seen us like this a million times," Peyton throws her hands in the air above us. "I've been the third in your marriage since we were eight."

"I used to think _you_ were going to marry him one day," Amy says nostalgically, leaning her head back against the Doctor.

"Peyton and Rory!" The Doctors exclaims as if that was the most preposterous suggestion he's ever heard. "When Sontarans fly!"

The three time travellers laugh heartily at this.

A tearing sound causes Peyton to crane her neck and look around at the Doctor.

"Why'd you do that?" Amy asks.

"Oh, I always tip out the last page of a book," he explains, tucking it inside the picnic basket. "Then it doesn't have to end. I hate endings."

Peyton settles back into Amy's lap and her thin hands begin playing with her blonde hair spilling over her thighs.

"As I crossed the street, I saw the thin guy, but he didn't see me. I guess that's how it began."

• • •

Peyton had insisted they get up and walk about after lounging for several hours on the picnic rug.

Peyton and Amy stand side by side, looking at each other, hands over the railing of the little stone bridge and silently counting down. They let go of their sticks and dash to the other side of the bridge to see which stick would finish the race victorious.

"I followed the skinny guy for two more blocks," the Doctor continues reading. "Before he turned and I could ask exactly what he was doing here. He looked a little scared, so I gave him my best smile and my bluest eyes."

"Beware the Yowzah," Amy teases, nudging Peyton with her shoulders.

Peyton turns to glare at the Doctor, holding her phone to point at him threateningly. "Do not, at this point, yowz."

The Doctor hops down from the railing, eyes transfixed on the pages of his book but not saying a word.

"Doctor? What did the skinny guy say?" Peyton says, a little concerned. She taps Amy on the shoulder before striding back to the Doctor's side.

The Doctor takes the glasses from his face and begins in a small voice. "He said, 'I just went to get coffees for the Doctor and the girls. Hello. River'."

• • •

"What's River doing in a book?" Amy demands as they march across the city to the Tardis on the bank of the Hudson River. "What's _Rory_ doing in a book?"

"He went to get coffee. Pay attention," the Doctor says.

"He went to get coffee and turned up in a book set in the thirties. Now, last time I checked, Rory can't fly the Tardis," Peyton argues.

"I don't know, we're in New York!"

Peyton gets an uneasy feeling in her stomach when she sees the blue Police Box sitting by the river just as they had left it.

"Where did you get this book?" Peyton asks, turning it over in her hands as the Doctor runs up to the console once they all filed inside the Tardis.

"It was in my jacket," the Doctor says as he launches the Tardis into the vortex.

"How did it get there?" Amy frowns, arriving on the flight deck beside Peyton.

"How does anything get there?" He shrugs. "I've given up asking! Date, date, does she mention a date? When is this happening?"

"Yes, hang on." Peyton opens the novel and quickly scans the first few pages, Amy looking keenly over her shoulder wearing her glasses again. "Oh, April third, 1938."

Rory was in a taxi with River, not long after they met. Peyton skims the lines before finding herself reading aloud. "'You didn't come here in the Tardis, obviously.' 'Why?' 'He couldn't have'."

"Couldn't have?" the Doctor protests. "What does she mean? Couldn't have?"

Peyton continues reading. "Like trying to land a plane in a blizzard, even I couldn't do it."

"Even who couldn't do it?" The Doctor argues yet again.

"Don't you two fall out, she's only in a book," Amy rolls her eyes.

The Doctor chuckles. "1938. Easy one!"

He sets the controls and as he pushes the time machine into flight yet again a shower of sparks follows a loud bang, sending the three of them tumbling backward. So that was clearly a lie.

Peyton struggles to stay on her feet, tucking a finger to mark her place in the book and looks up at the monitor, showing a bright red screen and displaying the words 'WARNING TEMPORAL DISTORTIONS DETECTED' before fading to dark static with the words 'NO SIGNAL'.

"What was that?" Amy asks.

"1938," the Doctor answers. "We just bounced off it."

A high pitched alarm rings through the Tardis as Peyton lifts the book again to continue reading.

• • •

The three time travellers step out of the Tardis into a graveyard, Peyton doesn't pay that much mind as she recites Rory and River's conversation from the book.

"The Weeping Angels?" Amy suggests.

"It makes sense," the Doctor replies.

"It makes what?"

"That's what happened to Rory," Peyton puts the book down. "That's what the Angels do. It's their preferred form of attack. Zap their prey back in time, let them live to death."

The Doctor nods along as he ducks back into the Tardis to use a fire extinguisher on the console.

"Well, we've got a time machine," Amy leans back on a headstone.

"So let's go get him," Peyton agrees.

"Well, tried that, if you've noticed. And we are back where we started in 2012."

"We didn't start in a graveyard," Amy points out. "What are we doing here?"

Peyton starts leading through the pages of the book.

"I don't know. Probably casually linked somehow, doesn't matter. Extractor fans on!"

"Well, we're going to get there somehow," Peyton shrugs. "We're in the rest of the book."

"What?"

"Page forty-three," Peyton explains. "You're going to break something."

"I'm what?"

"'Why do you have to break mine? I asked the Doctor. He frowned and said 'Because Peyton read it in a book and now I have no choice...'"

"Stop, no, no! Stop!" The Doctor rushes toward her and rips the novel from her hands. "You can't read ahead. You mustn't, and you can't do that."

He seems frantic. Scared, even.

"But we've already been reading it," Amy says.

"Just the stuff that's happening now, in parallel with us, that's as far as we go."

"But it could help us find Rory!" Amy argues, making a move to snatch the book off of the Doctor but he holds it out of her reach.

"And if we read ahead and find that Rory dies? This isn't any old future, it's ours. Once we know what's coming, it's fixed. I'm going to break something because you told me that I'm going to do it. No choice now."

"Time can be rewritten," Peyton reminds him meekly.

"Not once you've read it," he tucks the book in his jacket and grabs Peyton and Amy's wrists before dashing back to the Tardis. "Once we know what's coming, it's written in stone."

Once back in the box, the Doctor thrusts the book back to Peyton, telling her to read again, but only in parallel. He dashes down to the area below the console and emerges with tools in hand before jumping up onto the console itself as Peyton continues reading about River and Rory, now entering a strange building.

Amy and Peyton share a disbelieving look as they watch the Doctor work, slightly worried that the clumsy alien will find himself falling any second now.

"Okay," he begins, focusing on what he's doing. "Landing a plane in a timely-wimey blizzard. I could push through but if I'm out by a nanosecond, the engines will phase and I'll shatter the planet."

"Lovely," Amy grimaces.

"I need landing lights!" He announces.

"Landing lights?" Peyton repeats, confused.

"Yes, I need a signal to lock on to. What did she say? Early what dynasty?"

"'Early Qin'," Peyton recalls. "Do we need to make a pit stop?"

• • •

After stopping by 221 BCE, Peyton reads silently to herself in the Tardis.

An alarm dings, catching everyone's attention. As they all run around to the monitor and stare up at the large YOWZAH displayed on the screen, the Doctor pulls the book from Peyton's hands and shoves it in his pocket. Signal locked.

"Landing lights! We have a signal. Locking on," the Doctor braces the Tardis for flight and Peyton grabs a hold of the console and the Time machine crashes through the vortex. "Hold on tight, ladies!" The Doctor yells, grabbing Amy's hand to keep her steady.

With a loud groan, the Tardis lands and both Amy and Peyton immediately rush down to the door, Peyton looks back to see that the Doctor is still standing by the console.

"Come on!" She groans.

"Just a moment, final checks."

"Since when?" Amy scoffs.

He ducks behind the time router, looking at his reflection in the glass as he tousles his hair. Peyton laughs under her breath and nods to Amy before turning to the doors.

The red-haired girl leaves the Tardis first and immediately launches herself up a grand staircase, looking around at the decor. "Rory? Rory?"

Peyton watches her ascend to the second floor but stays to look around where they landed. She hears the Doctor emerge but he doesn't say anything.

Finding this odd, as he usually never shuts up, she turns to look at him, then to where his eyes have landed.

A larger man, wearing a pinstriped suit lies rigid in the doorway not too far from the two of them.

Peyton rushes forward to make sure he's okay as she hears Amy call out for her husband above them. A pulse, that's good.

"Sorry I'm late, honey. Traffic was hell, " the Doctor says.

Peyton leans back from the body and cranes her neck to look down the hall, where she sees River Song, standing with her arm raised awkwardly, wearing an elegant midnight blue dress.

As if only just remembering he was there, the Doctor leans down to inspect the body but Peyton shakes her head. "He's fine, shock. He'll be fine"

The Doctor nods, patting him on the chest before getting to his feet. Peyton does the same.

"Not if I get loose."

The Doctor straightens his bow tie before walking toward his wife, Peyton follows. They both come to a halt as they look up at the scarred and chained angel that held a fist around River's pale wrist.

"River, are you okay?" Peyton says, her eyes widening, trying not to blink.

"Oh, she's harmless," River smiles sweetly as if not bothered by the ruthless monster holding her. "Long time, no see."

"So where are we now, Dr Song? How's prison?" The Doctor says, stepping between the two girls, visually inspecting the angel.

"Oh, I was pardoned ages ago. And it's Professor Song to you."

"Pardoned?" Peyton raises an eyebrow as the Doctor walks around the other side of River.

"Hmm, turns out the person I killed never existed in the first place," River winks at her. She turns to the Doctor. "Apparently, there's no record of him. It's almost as if someone's gone around deleting himself from every database in the universe."

"You said I got too big," he explains, tapping her nose gently.

"And now no one's ever heard of you? Didn't you use to be somebody?"

"Weren't you the woman who killed the Doctor?"

He begins scanning the angel with his screwdriver.

"Doctor who?"

"Is the flirting really necessary?" Peyton interrupts, looking between the two of them. "What is with the flirting today?"

"Oh, when are you going to find her some handsome prince to run off with," River sighs, mostly joking. "Or at least a babysitter."

"Very funny," Peyton sneers at her. "I recall you were the one always looking for a dashing prince when we were kids."

"A long time ago, dear. A very long time ago."

"Attention to the matter at hand, ladies?" The Doctor sighs.

"She didn't send me back in time, odd, don't you think?" River's eyes run over the delicate stone that holds her.

"I doubt she's strong enough," the Doctor says. Peyton sees Amy appear in the doorway, clearly failed in her mission to find her husband.

"Well, I need a hand back," River looks to him. "So which is it going to be? Are you going to break my wrist or hers?"

The Doctor looks past his wife to meet Peyton's eyes who's colour drains from her face.

"Oh, no, really?" River groans. "Why do you have to break mine."

"Because Peyton read it in a book, and now I have no choice," he looks to the ground before looking back to Peyton. "You see?"

"What book? River sputters.

"Your book," he pulls it from his jacket pocket. "Which you haven't written yet, so we can't read."

"I see," River nods as the Doctor storms off to slump into an armchair. "I don't like the cover much."

"But if River's going to write that book, she'd make it useful, yeah?" Amy asks.

"Well, I'll certainly try," River agrees. "But we can't read ahead. It's too dangerous."

"I know but there must be something we can look at," Amy suggests.

"What, a page of handy hints?" The Doctor says listlessly. "Previews? Spoiler free?"

"Chapter titles?" Peyton realises.

The Doctor clicks his fingers at her before peeling back the cover of the book and scanning his contents.

"He's in the cellar," he announces.

"Let's go," Peyton nods, running past River and grabbing Amy's hand. The two run out into the main foyer and head for the Tardis where Peyton grabs two torches from the console before dashing back out for the set of stairs leading down into the ground.

Together, Pond and Barrett descend quickly down the creaking steps. They quickly meet a door, it's locked. Without hesitation, Peyton whips out her sonic and in a second, the mechanism clicks openly, allowing Amy to shove it open.

"Rory?" She calls as they enter the dark basement. Their torchlight reveals paint peeling from the walls, spiderwebs hanging from the ceiling and between the poles on the stair railing, and more importantly, no sign of Rory.

"Rory, are you here? Are you okay?" Peyton calls into the darkness. No reply.

Peyton and Amy reach the bottom stair and both shine your torchlight on some peculiar statues. Small cherubs, each posing cheekily in the middle of the floor,

"No!" The Doctor says, appearing behind them without a sound, causing them both to scream. "They're Angels. Baby Angels."

Peyton's eyes stretch open, making sure to not blink. She lowers her torchlight just a smidge to illuminate a collection of burnt-out matches on the stone floor.

"Did they get Rory?" Amy asks. "Where is he, did they take him?"

"Yes, I think so, yes."

The shrill sound of a child's laughter and padding feet does not sit well with any of the time travellers who without a word, begin to make their way backwards up the stairwell, eyes still fixed on the statues.

• • •

Peyton and Amy sit at the base of the main staircase in the foyer watching the Doctor pace back and forth in front of them.

"So is this what's going to happen?" Peyton asks. "We just keep chasing him and they keep pulling him further back?"

"He isn't back in time," River says, emerging from the office, her coat thrown back over her shoulders, somehow free of the Angel, but no sign of a broken wrist. She holds her book and scanner in one hand and reads off it. "I'm reading a displacement, but there are no temporal markers. He's been moved in space, not time and it's not that far from here, by the look of it."

"You got out?" The Doctor smiles at her.

"So, where is he?" Amy asks impatiently.

"It will take a minute to get a definite fix," she says, Peyton notices that her face is considerably paler than usual but her actions don't seem out of place.

The Doctor goes back to pacing but after a few seconds seems to lose his patience. "Well, come on, come on, come on, where is he?"

"If it was that easy, I'd get you to do it," River snaps.

"But how did you get your wrist out without breaking it?" Peyton asks. "I thought..."

"He asked, I did. Problem?"

The Doctor laughs proudly. "You just changed the future!"

"It's called marriage, honey. Now, hush, I'm working."

"She's good, ah, have you noticed?" The Doctor beams as he sits beside Peyton on the stairs. "Really, really good."

"Ah, whenever it is, it's within a few blocks," River announces as her computer starts beeping. "There's a car out front, shall we steal it?"

"Show me!" The Doctor leaps up with Peyton and Amy and the three dash toward the door.

A high pitched yelp from River causes Peyton to skid to a halt and she sees the Doctor drop her hand immediately. It's then she notices the dark purple discolouration and small trickle of blood painting River Song's wrist.

No one says a word, her shuddering breaths are the loudest sound in the room.

"Sit down," the Doctor says softly, nodding to the stairs. "We've got time."

River's pale face nods before handing her book and scanner to the Doctor, he makes sure she sits comfortably on the stair before gesturing for her intact wrist so he can remove the Vortex Manipulator for her.

He tucks the book away and fiddles with both devices for a second before turning to Peyton and Amy.

"Okay, when all those numbers on both units go to zero, that's when we've got a lock, okay?" The Doctor says handing both River's computer and Vortex Manipulator to Peyton as Amy slips her glasses back on her face. "It's how we find Rory."

"Got it," they both nod.

• • •

River storms out of the door with a scowl etched into her features.

Peyton turns to glare at the Doctor after what had just happened.

"Tell you what," Peyton walks up to and bends down to him sitting on the stairwell, pressing the two devices into his lap. "Stick to the science part."

She nods to Amy and together they take quick paces to catch up with River outside. She can't have gone far.

As they break out into the chilly New York air, Peyton spots River Song standing at the base of the stone steps, looking out into the night. Together they walk down to her.

"Okay, so why did you lie?" Amy asks in a motherly tone.

"Never let him see the damage," she explains.

Amy is quick to wrap an arm around her, rubbing her shoulder gently with her hand while Peyton walks around to face her, holding both her hands in hers.

"And never, ever let him see you age," she turns her head to look into her mother's eyes. "He doesn't like endings."

River looks back to Peyton with a small smile, holding back tears from her glassy eyes and doesn't see Amy touch her face gently.

"And don't let him consume you. You'll only get hurt."

"Got it!" The Doctor's voice rings out into the night. "He's at a place called Winter Quay. The car, yes, let's go."

"Why would they send him here?" Peyton asks as the four tumble out of the car as soon as River slams the brakes on the side of the road. "They send people back in time, not space."

"Well, we'll know when we figure out what this place is," the Doctor says.

Peyton looks up to the large neon sign above the building.

"Winter Quay," River reads.

With a nod to one another, they all race up to the building.

• • •

"Rory!" Amy calls down the creepy hallway.

Winter Quay turns out to be a very old, run-down apartment building. Deserted too, not a soul to be seen anywhere.

Peyton and Amy slow to a halt when they come across an open door. They peer inside to see their lanky centurion, looking relieved to see their faces.

"Rory!"

"Amy."

The couple embrace and Peyton simply pats him on the shoulder.

"Do you guys know what this place is?" Rory asks, pulling away from Amy and wrapping an arm around Peyton's shoulders for a side hug.

"No idea," Peyton shakes her head, but I'd like to leave as soon as possible."

"Amy! Rory! Peyton! Get out of there!" The Doctor yells as he barrels into the room with River close behind. "Don't look at anything, don't touch..."

"Who's that?" Amy asks. Peyton looks further into the room to see an elderly man lying in the bed, reaching out to the strangers in his foyer.

"Amy..." the man calls out hoarsely. "Amy, please."

Slowly, Amy steps towards the man and to his bedside as the rest of the time travellers watch on. But Peyton frowns as she sees the Doctor look away and leans against the wall, hunched against it.

"Amy, please. Please," he continues to plead as she slips her hand into his, kneeling down beside his bed. He pants and coughs.

Amy slowly turns her head to look back at them, specifically Rory. "He's you."

Rory looks like he might throw up, turning away from his future self quickly. Peyton is quick to grab his hand and forearm, rubbing it comfortingly as she continues to stare ahead the old man, who takes a few rattling breaths before lying still and limp.

"Could someone please tell me what is going on?" Rory asks, his voice steady and monotone.

The Doctor finally turns around and looks at his companion, his eyes wide and the colour drained from his face. "I'm sorry, Rory," he says. "But you just died."

Rory gulps before looking back to his wife and future self. Peyton drops her hands from his arm as she fully processes what just happened.

She just watched her best friend die.

"This place is policed by Angels," the Doctor begins his explanation looking out the window into the night. "Every time you try to escape, you get zapped back in time."

"So this place belongs to the Angels? They built it?" She questions him.

"Displace someone back in time creates time energy, and that is what the Angels feed on. But normally it's a one-off, a hit and run. If they could keep hold of their victims, feed off their time energy over and over again... This place is a farm. A battery farm. How many Angels in New York?"

"It's like they've taken over every statue in the city," River shrugs.

"The Angels take Manhattan! Because they can, because they've never had a good source like this one. The city that never sleeps."

A great rumbling from outside sets the already stressed out time travellers on an even harsher edge.

"What was that?" Rory croaks.

"I don't know. But I think they're coming for you."

"What does that mean?" Rory asks exasperatedly. "What is going to happen to me? What is physically going to happen?"

The Doctor falls down into an armchair and rubs at his temples. "The Angels will come for you. They'll zap you back in time to this very spot, thirty, forty years ago. And you'll live out the rest of your life in that room, until you die in that bed."

"And will Amy be there?" He asks.

"No."

"How do you know?" Amy argues.

"Because he was so happy to see you again, Aimes," Peyton realises, staring into the middle distance and then up at her.

No one says anything. No one knows what to say.

"Okay," Rory finally breaks the silence. "Well, they haven't taken me yet. What if I just run? What if I just get the hell out of here? Then that never happens."

"It already happened, Rory. You've just witnessed your own future!"

Rory starts to pace anxiously.

"Doctor, he's right," River says quietly.

"No, he isn't," he insists.

"If Rory got out, it would create a paradox," River insists. The rumbling gets louder. "This is the Angels' food source. The paradox poisons the well. It could kill them all. This whole place would literally un-happen."

"It would be almost impossible," the Doctor says lowly.

"Loving the almost," says Peyton, her mood picking up.

"But to create a paradox like that takes almost unimaginable power," the Doctor gets up from the chair. "What have we got, eh? Tell me, come on, what?"

Amy walks over to her husband and interlocks her fingers with his. "I won't let them take him. That's what we've got."

The rumbling outside gets louder again.

"Whatever that thing is, it's getting closer," Rory says, walking up to the window with the Doctor.

"Rory, even if you got out, you'd have to keep running for the rest of your life. They would be chasing you forever."

"Well, then," Amy says, walking toward the door. "Better get started."

She rips open the door to reveal an Angel standing threateningly outside it.

"Husband, run!"

Rory gives the Doctor a pat on the shoulder, and Peyton a rib crushing squeeze before dashing after Amy and into the corridor.

"I'm not sure this can work," the Doctor says to Peyton and River as the lights start to flicker and another Angel appears in the doorway.

"Husband, shut up," River mirrors her mother's words and grabs both the Doctor and Peyton's hands before charging forward.

They all come to a halt, however, as the lights flicker again, allowing the Angel to get closer.

Peyton and the Doctor both pull out their sonics and point them as separate lamps but the Angels are too powerful, draining the power and allowing them to creep forward until the three time travellers are surrounded.

"We can't keep doing this," Peyton pants, trying to focus on keeping her eyes open and the sonic working.

"Any ideas?" River asks.

"Yeah, the usual," the Doctor says. "Run!"

Peyton bolts toward the door and soon and into the corridor. No Angels, for now.

They tumble out into the stairwell, Peyton and the Doctor both lean over the railing and see several Angels at different intervals, all reaching up to them and baring their stone teeth.

"Uh, okay," the Doctor frets, looking around and thinking of a plan. "Fire escape."

• • •

"What the hell are you doing?" The Doctor cries above Peyton. He jumps onto the roof and she quickly follows to see Amy and Rory standing on the edge of the building, holding each other tight.

"Amy! Rory! No!" She shrieks.

"Changing the future," Amy answers the Doctor. "It's called marriage."

Peyton watches in horror as they both lean over the edge together

"Rory! Amy!" Peyton cries, running forward to the edge of the building and leaning over, watching helplessly as her two best friends plummet to the ground below.

A hand grabs a fistful of her jacket behind her as she leans further over the brick beside the Doctor

"Doctor, Peyton," River says as her grip on Peyton's clothing loosens. "Look!"

Peyton turns to see the giant looming face of the Statue of Liberty, snarling down at them but she realises that's not what River is talking about. It's the bright light gathering in a sphere in the centre of the rooftop.

"What's happening?" Peyton asks over the roaring of the gale the energy is generating. The Doctor grabs her hand as the building begins to shake.

"The paradox. It's working!" The Doctor shouts. "The paradox is working!"

The sound gets unbearable and the light continues to grow until it consumes Peyton's vision.

• • •

She comes to in the grass, staring up at the cloudy sky, her hand still in the Doctor's. She watches the Doctor jump to his feet and turn to help River up before reaching down for Peyton.

She wobbles slightly as she stands but the Doctor is there to balance her.

"Look, there's the Tardis," he claps his hands as Peyton realises where they are. The graveyard. The same graveyard they landed in when they bounced of 1938 the first time.

He happily bounds off toward it but River looks grim.

"Where are we?" They hear Rory ask from behind a gravestone.

"Back where we started!" The Doctor cheers. "You collapsed the timeline, the paradox worked, we all pinged back where we belong!"

"What, in a graveyard?" Rory asks as Peyton catches up to the Doctor.

"This happened the last time. Why always here?"

"Does it matter? We got lucky! We could have blown New York off the planet. I can't ever take the Tardis back there, the timelines are too scrambled."

"I thought I was going to lose you both," Peyton pulls them both into a hug, "Don't ever do that again."

"Got it, P," Rory laughs, showing his appreciation for the hug after his near death experience.

Peyton leans back, her eyes damp but her lips smiling wide. The Doctor takes this opportunity to grab the two Ponds and place a kiss on each of their foreheads before dashing back to the Tardis. Where he gasps at the state of it, covering in scratches and it's blue paint peeling off.

"It could do with a repaint," River says as Peyton shoves her hands in her pockets and walks toward the blue box. She must have gone inside and grabbed a bucket and a couple of sponges to clean the time machine off a little.

"I've been busy," the Doctor glares st her.

"Does the bulb on top need changing?"

"I just changed it."

"So. Rory and Amy, then," she smirks.

"Yes, I know, I know," he points his sponge at her.

"I'm just saying! They're going to get terribly bored hanging around here all day."

Peyton laughs at the two.

"Doctor," Rory calls.

"Ha!" The Doctor cheers, still amazed that they escaped.

"Next time, could we just go to the pub?"

"I want to go to the pub right now," the Doctor agrees. "Are there video games there? I love video games."

"Right, family outing, then," River smiles as she picks up the picket and the Doctor opens the door for her.

Peyton jumps into the time machine after her, quickly followed by the Doctor.

"So, the pub," she says, bounding up the flight deck. "It better not be a Cyber pub or something."

She looks back to the door, where Amy and Rory have not come through yet.

"Doctor!" Amy's shrill cry penetrates the Tardis doors.

Without a second thought. The Doctor, River, and Peyton all race out into the cemetery.

"Where the hell did that come from?" River gasps as their eyes fall on the Angel reaching out toward them.

"Where's Rory?" Peyton asks, her voice trembling and hearts pounding in her throat as she stares at the smiling Angel.

"It's a survivor," the Doctor points his sonic at it. "Very weak but keep your eyes on it."

"He was... he was..." Amy struggles.

The Doctor pads toward the creature carefully before looking down at a gravestone beside it. "I'm sorry. Amelia, Peyton... I'm so sorry."

Peyton's knees feel weak, a cold shiver runs over her entire body and her stomach lurches. "No..." is all she can whimper.

"No. No, we can just go and get him in the Tardis. One more paradox," Amy insists in a quiet voice.

"Would rip New York apart!"

"It's not true. I don't believe you," she shakes her head.

"Mother, it's true."

Amy takes a step forward.

"Amy, what are you doing?" The Doctor asks.

"That gravestone, Rory's gravestone. There's room for one more name, isn't there?"

"Amy!" Peyton chokes as her eyes swell with tears, realising what she is about to do.

"What are you talking about? Back away from the Angel," he orders. "Come back to the Tardis. We'll figure something. Out."

"The Angel," she says, fighting back a sob. "Would it send me back to the same time, to him?"

"I don't know, nobody knows."

"But it's my best shot, yeah?" She sobs.

"Amy, I can't lose you too!" Peyton cries as hot tears stream down her face. "Amy, don't leave me!"

"No, Amy, no!"

"Doctor, shut up! Yes. Yes, it is!" River shouts.

"Amy," the Doctor tries.

"Well then, I just have to blink, right?"

"Amy, don't!" Peyton steps forward but River's arms wrap around her middle. She looks back at her, horrified, before trying to break away but her grip is ironclad.

"It will be fine. I know it will!"

"No!" The Doctor wails.

"I'll be with him, like I should he. Me and Rory together."

"River, let me go!" Peyton struggles, trying to reach her friend. "Amy, you can't leave me! Let me go with her!"

"Melody?" Amy asks in a strangely calm voice.

"Stop it, just, just stop it!" The Doctor begs.

"Melody, let me go!" Peyton roars, he vision blurred by her tears. She rips and claws at the hands at her waist but nothing gets them to release her.

"Melody, you look after them and you be a good girl, and you look after them." Amy sniffs.

"You are creating fixed time," the Doctor tries to sway her. "I will never be able to see you again. Peyton will never be able to see you again."

"I'll be fine. I'll be with him."

"I don't want to leave you!" Peyton screams, kicking and thrashing like a toddler in their mother's arms. "Mels, I'm telling you to let me go!"

"Peyton, you belong here. With him," Amy's voice quavers, not looking back at her. "You travel the stars and you tell every single one of them about me. About Rory. I'll miss you every day."

"Amy, please," the Doctor begs, his voice breaking as Amy begins to sob. "Just come back into the Tardis. Come along, Pond, please."

"Raggedy man..." she chokes, before turning her back to the Angel. "Goodbye."

Amy disappears before Peyton's eyes and the blonde girl lets out a howl before collapsing into River Song's arms, burying her face into her shoulder. Her body racking with heavy sobs.

• • •

River flies the Tardis as Peyton and the Doctor sit on the stairs, a few feet apart from one another, gazing off into the distance.

Her body hurts and her head spins a little from dehydration. She feels nothing, like all feeling had left her body as the salty tears fell from her stormy grey eyes. Her pale fingers drag her mother's wedding ring back and forth along its thin gold chain.

"River," the Doctor says, his voice still croaky. "They were your parents. I'm sorry, I didn't even think."

"It doesn't matter," she says nonchalantly.

"I want to go home," Peyton managed hoarsely. "I need, I have to.."

"I understand," the Doctor reaches behind himself to place a hand on her knee. She shivers at the touch and leans away from it.

"I can take you home," River nods. "Leadworth or London."

"London," Peyton says without thinking before pulling herself to her feet slowly with the railing. "I... I'll grab my things."


	37. The Day that the Impossible Girl Returned

The English countryside flies past the window of the train snaking its way down to London. Peyton sits slumped against it, staring blankly out as the scenery slowly changes from sleepy villages dotting the green blanket to urban towns and cities.

Six months ago she watched her two best friends be ripped from time itself, she will never see them again. Time-locked. Even attempting to find them will rip a hole through reality.

She felt numb, she didn't know what to do with herself for those first few days alone in her apartment. She had avoided the dining room where one of Rory's brown sweaters and Amy's denim jacket hung over dining chairs exactly where they had been tossed before the three of them leapt into the Tardis for the last time.

A week passed before a buzz at the door interrupted her numb isolation. It was Kate Stewart. Bearing both concern for her radio silence and a letter, written from 1890, addressed to Peyton on this very day.

It was from the Doctor, explaining that he was settling down in Victorian London and not to worry about him, that Madame Vastra was keeping an eye on him. It offered little comfort to Peyton. Enclosed in the envelope beside the letter was a torn out page of a novel. The Afterword from the Melody Malone novel written by Amy Williams.

She explained what had happened to Kate, she felt for her and asked if she had told their families. She hadn't, Peyton hadn't spoken to anyone.

U.N.I.T took less than a day to produce the documents and paperwork fabricating a fatal plane crash that was supposed to take place over the Atlantic Ocean. It was efficient and clean and produced certificates of death for Amelia Jessica Williams and her husband Rory Arthur Williams.

Kate told Peyton to go home, to Leadworth where two substitute bodies were arranged for a funeral.

Arriving in the sleepy village without Amy and Rory felt wrong, she felt empty. Her parents were crying when she arrived home, they exclaimed how lucky she and the Doctor were for deciding to spend one more day in New York instead of flying with them. Peyton gave them half hearted nods in return and let herself be held in their arms.

The funeral was a haze, everyone in the town offered their condolences to their parents and to Peyton, who stared down at the twin graves, filled with strangers while she knew Amy and Rory's already decomposed bodies were in a cemetery three thousand miles away.

At the wake, Brian came up to her and told her that he knew what had happened. Peyton stared at him teary eyed while he explained that a man named Antony Peyton Williams came to visit him, explaining what had happened.

Peyton spent the next six months in Leadworth. Often sitting in the garden or reading in bed. Her parents tried to convince her to return to London, to get back to work and be busy but she couldn't.

She tried. She, and Amy and Rory's parents went down together to gather their dead children's belongings from their apartment. They kept offering for Peyton to have some of their things, clothes, knick-knacks, anything. She politely refused them all. She had a few of their things in her flat already. She didn't want anymore.

But now she returns, mostly because her parents were borderline threatening her to leave because she would do little else than sit or do chores to keep busy. They even somehow got a hold of U.N.I.T and in true parental fashion, ordered them to come up with something to busy their daughter.

So business meetings and conference calls it is.

As the train pulls into the station where the rest of her journey home had to be made on a bus, she dragged her suitcase out and into the hazy air of London.

• • •

Life would never be the same again, but Peyton did find herself falling back into her old routine. Travelling to work on the Tube most mornings, maybe having lunch with Beth or Kingston at a café later in the day. She'd discuss policies and protocol with foreign leaders and domestic ministers and then return to her flat in the evening to watch telly and cook dishes she found on Pinterest.

The Ponds' flat has been sold quickly. She met the neighbours who had heard what happened, the fake plane crash had made international news. They were nice enough. Expecting too.

Life continued, as if in complete disregard for Amy and Rory and the loss Peyton and their families were dealing with.

And the Doctor was no where to be seen.

But, despite all this, little by little, things began to feel okay. Peyton waved at her new neighbours as they passed each other. She laughed with her work friends as they spent their lunch breaks discussing mindless topics like celebrities and workplace gossip. Darren Forest from security even asked Peyton out on a date, to which she accepted. He is quite handsome and definitely her type but at the end of the night Peyton decided to tell him it was best if they were to just stay friends.

It still hurt every day, some days more than others but Peyton tries her hardest not to dwell on it. She remembers Amy's last wish and what she would say if she knew she was moping around as she was. She'd tell her to get up and move on with her life. To do something. And that is what she did every day. She strived to achieve one thing, just one. On the hard days, it was getting out of bed but not every day had to be a bad day.

• • •

Peyton was just stepping out of the shower when someone decided to start banging at her door. She groans rubbing herself furiously with her towel before slipping on the pair of jeans and sweatshirt hanging on the rack. She looks in the mirror at herself. Face still flushed red from the heat of the water, her hair in a haphazard bun to keep it out of the water. And the sweatshirt. It was Rory's. Slightly too big for her in the arms and incredibly comfy. She sighs before heading downstairs.

All this time, whoever it is would pause for a minute before taking up their banging again.

"I'm coming!" She calls, shaking her head as she reached the foyer.

With one motion she grabs the handle and swings the door open.

The Doctor, with his hand still raised to begin another round of knocking, stands on her doorstep. The Tardis parked over the other side of the street behind him. It had been forever since she'd seen his dopey face, forever since New York.

Neither of them says anything for a second before Peyton can't bear it any longer.

"What the hell are you wearing?" She blurts out, looking down at his brown robes. He looks like a monk.

"This? This is nothing," he shakes his head. "Peyton, I've missed you."

He throws his arms around her and holds her tightly, she laughs awkwardly, patting him on the back. This is a stark difference in attitude from when she last saw him. She wonders how long it has been for him.

"So what's up with the get-up? Something tells me this is more than just a social call?"

"What's up with me?" He says excitedly, hopping from one foot to another. "Peyton, remember the Dalek Asylum?"

"Uh, yeah. I try not to actually," she folds her arms, leaning up against the doorframe.

"And remember Oswin, the souffle girl?"

"Yeah, Doctor, get to the point."

"I found her! Here, on the other side of London."

"Doctor, she died thousands of years in the future, how can you have found her?" Peyton asks unimpressed.

"I met her in Victorian London, she was a governess for a little family and she saved my life, again. And now I've found her here, in your London."

His speech was very fast and hard to follow, even for Peyton.

"I don't know how, but it's the same girl. Clara Oswin Oswald, popping up through history, we can find her, Peyton, come on!"

The Doctor marches back to the Tardis and Peyton instinctively grabs her keys and sonic pen from the hallway table and dashes after him.

"Doctor," she calls, coming to her senses, stopping him as he stands in the doorway of the time machine, Peyton in the middle of the street. "How long has it been for you?"

She watches as the Doctor slowly looks up at the flat beside Peyton's.

"Four years," he pauses for some time before looking back at Peyton sadly. "And you?"

"Only seven months," she replies.

The Doctor falters for a moment before Peyton pulls a face of exasperation, not in the mood for him to go all emotional on her.

"Come on, show me this Clara girl. I still don't know what you're going on about," she shoves him lightly inside the box and closes the door behind her.

Now it's her turn to falter. "You've... redecorated."

The Doctor runs up to the console before looking back at her.

Peyton looks around at the completely different Tardis before walking forward, hand trailing along the railing, taking in the new interior.

"I like it."

• • •

As Peyton steps out of the Tardis she remembers how much she has missed travelling in space and time. They have landed in the front garden of an unassuming London house, on an unassuming London street. The lawns are manicured and the houses perfectly respectable.

Peyton isn't sure what to make of the Doctor's so called discovery. Oswin saved their lives from the Daleks a long time ago, and that was a long way in the future. Even if he has had four years to mourn, Peyton wonders if he's chasing some delusion, another lost soul that died because of him. She feels sorry for him. She follows behind him as he runs up to the front door and begins switching between ringing the doorbell hammering against the glass door just as he had done to hers not long before.

"Hello, yes, I hear you!" Peyton hears a faint woman's voice from inside. "Yep, Uh-huh. Hello?"

The door swings open to reveal a brown-haired woman, mid-twenties Peyton guesses. She's quite short with large brown eyes. Quite pretty as well, but that's not important.

"Clara?" The Doctor whispers excitedly. "Clara Oswald?"

"Hello?"

"Clara Oswin Oswald?" He asks again, a little louder.

"Just Clara Oswald," she laughs awkwardly. "What was that middle one?"

Peyton scrunches her face involuntarily. It may have been twenty odd years ago for her, but with her impressive memory, she has to admit that the girl's voice does sound familiar.

"Do you remember me?" He shouts.

"Doctor, Shh," Peyton places a hand on the Doctor's forearm before sending this Clara girl and apologetic smile.

"No. Should I?" She shakes her head. "Who are you two?"

"The Doctor," he steps forward, shaking Peyton's hand off of him. "No? The Doctor?"

He cranes his neck to look at his reflection in a hallway mirror.

"Doctor who?"

"No, just the Doctor," he sighs. "Actually, sorry, could you just ask me that again?"

"Could I What?"

"Could you just ask me that question again?"

"Doctor who?" Clara frowns.

"Okay, just once more."

"Doctor, stop it," Peyton grabs him by the elbow and pulls him out of the doorway. "Sorry about him, he's not usually this rude, well, I say usually."

"D'you know, I never realised how much I enjoy hearing that said out loud. Thank you," he nods, smiling like an idiot.

"Okay," Clara smiles thinly before slamming the door in the strangers faces.

"Hey, no! Clara!" The Doctor presses himself up against the glass door. "Please, Clara. I need to talk to you."

"When was the last time you actually talked to a human being?" Peyton asks, rolling her eyes and leaning against a column on the porch.

"My conversational skills are fine," he retorts before banging on the door again. "Please! We just need to speak to you!"

"Doctor, just face it. It's not her," Peyton sighs, looking off into the street.

"Why are you both still here?" Clara's voice crackles over an intercom. "Why are you here at all?"

"Oi, you phoned me. You were looking for the internet," the Doctor replies.

"That was you?"

Peyton raises an eyebrow at the conversation. How could she call the Tardis? That's not possible. Very few people have that number, even fewer are still alive. 

"Of course it was me."

"How did you get here so fast?" She asks.

"I just happened to be in the neighbourhood," he looks over his shoulder toward the Tardis. "On my mobile phone."

"When you say 'mobile phone', why do you look at that blue box?"

"Because it's a surprisingly accurate description!"

Peyton chokes back a laugh at that. She really has missed him.

"Okay, we're finished now."

"Oi, no, don't..." the Doctor groans as the intercom beeps, signalling the end of the conversation.

"Doctor, it's not her!" Peyton reasons as he storms off back to the Tardis. "And what do you mean that she called you?"

She follows him through the doors as he begins to tear off his robes.

"She said a woman in a shop gave her the number, I don't know," he says as he makes his way down below deck. Peyton picks up each item of clothing as he drops it. "Right now I need to not be a monk. Monks are not cool!"

Peyton watches as he opens a compartment at the base of the console and begins to rip pieces of clothing out of it.

She dumps the pile of brown wool beside him as he ruffles through the collection.

"Aha!" He cheers as he places a red fez on his head. Peyton bats it off of him and he gives a sulk.

• • •

"The coast is clear!" He shouts.

Peyton opens her eyes to see the Doctor beaming at her, finally fully clothed with a thigh-length purple coat, and matching bow tie.

"So it's out with the tweed then?" Peyton asks.

"Tweed," he chuckles, straightening his bow tie which he has chosen to keep. "So four years ago."

He begins to walk past her, back up to the flight deck but stops in his tracks as he reaches the steps.

Both Time Lords turn to face one another and Peyton looks up at him concerned.

"That's..." he begins, eyes landed on her brown sweater.

"Yeah," she says after a deep, steadying breath. "It's Rory's. I found it at home after..."

"Yeah," the Doctor nods, looking away.

"I didn't think you'd notice that it was, well, his." 

"I don't think I showed it very well, but I always noticed Rory. Our centurion," he says quietly. "I don't think he ever knew that." 

"I don't think he ever expected you to." 

A tension thick silence fills the Tardis, both Time Lords wanting to say something but unsure of how to say it. 

"I hate to break it to you, but I don't think it was just the monk look that turned her away," Peyton says, changing the topic. "Try acting like a normal person for once?"

He smiles cheekily. "Nah."

He jumps back up the stairs and out of the Tardis. Peyton runs after him. He has only been back five minutes and she is already realising that sitting on her arse for the past half a year didn't do her any more good than staying with the Doctor would have. Earth has never been her speed.

Peyton makes sure the door closes behind her as the Doctor races off eagerly. "Clara!" He calls before reaching the door. "Clara?"

"Hello?" She answers through the telecom.

"Us again! De-monked this time!" He claps his face, staring into the small camera and does a little spin. "Sensible clothes. Erm, can we come in now?"

"I don't understand."

"Could you just open the door?" The Doctor asks.

"I don't know..." He voice sounds hesitant. Scared. She didn't seem scared before.

"Of course you can!" The Doctor encourages.

"... where I am. I don't know where I am."

The Doctor looks back at Peyton, alarmed.

"Where am I?" She continues. "Please tell me where I am! I don't know where I am. I don't know where I am!"

The Doctor steps back, pulling out his sonic and points it at the doorknob until the mechanism clicks.

"Clara? Clara!" The Doctor yells as he and Peyton barrel through the door to find the woman on the floor, unconscious.

The Doctor dives down beside her, holding the back of her neck him his hand and scanning her with the sonic.

But why can Peyton still hear her hyperventilating? "Doctor," Peyton says, looking up at a little girl on the stairs. Except, it's definitely not a little girl. Where it's face should be is a concave surface, like a satellite dish, glowing blue and showing a live feed of Clara looking very distressed.

"I don't know what's happening! I don't know where I am! Where am I? I don't know where I am!"

"Doctor, What is that thing?" Peyton asks as he gets to his feet and points his sonic at the thing.

"It's like," he grunts, concentrating his energy into it. "Something or someone has removed her consciousness."

"That shouldn't be possible," Peyton frowns. The Doctor manages to get the robot to glow blue before revealing a metal skeleton, simply using the image of a young girl.

"A walking base station," the Doctor gasps. "A walking Wi-Fi base station, hoovering up data. Hoovering up people!" He pushes past the robot and up the staircase. Peyton drops back to Clara's side and takes her pulse again. It's weak.

"What do you mean data?" She calls up the stairs, simultaneously checking for any damage on the woman in her fall. "You can't download human minds, not in this time zone anyway."

"This technology isn't supposed to be here at all! Shouldn't your lot be on top of something like this?" His muffled shout carries down the stairs.

"My lot?" She shoots back, quite offended as she hears his footsteps return to the staircase. "What am I supposed to do, predict the future?"

The Doctor bounds down the stairs to crouch beside Peyton with a small laptop in hand.

He throws it open and begins typing furiously, looking between Clara and the robot. Peyton stands to her feet and pulls out her phone, heading straight the the U.N.I.T current case files as the Doctor works.

No suspicious missing persons, no reports of soul-stealing robots wandering around. One article does catch her eye, however. The string of spontaneous heart attacks worldwide. No patterns between them, most victims were completely healthy. Now, that sounds promising.

She takes out her sonic and scans the young woman's body. Cardiac arrest, or at least made to look like one. This was beginning to prove itself interesting. 

"Not this time, Clara, I promise you," she hears the Doctor mutter under his breath, still dutifully typing away.

He stops.

He leans down to check Clara's pulse once more before looking up the robot as it shines a blue light onto Clara's face.

Her chest heaves and the Doctor rolls her onto her side as she starts to cough.

"It's okay, it's okay. You're fine, you're back. Yes, you are," he holds her head gently before placing a kiss on her forehead. "Oh, yes you are."

"She still out?" Peyton raises an eyebrow.

"Yes, just sleeping," the Doctor nods, placing her back down gently. "Heart rate back to normal, just had an exhausting couple of minutes." He grabs the computer again and types a few lines of code before slamming the lid back down. "Well, help me get her to bed."

• • •

Peyton sits in a metal chair beside the Doctor on the pavement outside Clara's house, the robot disassembled in front of them. Night had fallen since they had put the woman to bed and the Doctor seemed to feel the need to take care of any chore that came up.

It was weird to see him acting this way. This girl he met in Victorian London must have made a pretty good impression.

"Hello?"

Both Time Lords look up to see Clara leaning out her bedroom window, peering down at them with a frown.

"Ah, hello. Are you all right?" The Doctor asks, jumping up from his seat.

"Hiya," Peyton waves, her lips pressed together to form a tight smile.

"I'm in bed," she says.

"Yes."

"Don't remember going."

"No."

"What did I miss?"

"Oh, quite a lot, actually," the Doctor remembers, pulling out his notepad. "Angie called, she's going to stay over at Nina's. Apparently, that's all fine."

"And, I quote," Peyton adds. "That you shouldn't worry like you always do, for God's sake, get off her back."

"And then your dad phoned," the Doctor continues. "Mainly about the government. He seems very cross with them."

"We've got several pages on that," Peyton huffs.

"I fixed that rattling noise in the washing machine, indexed the kitchen cupboards, optimised the photosynthesis in the main flower bed and assembled the quadricycle."

"Assembled the what?"

"We found a disassembled quadricycle in the garage."

"I don't think you did."

"We invented the quadricycle!" The Doctor laughs proudly, spinning around to raise a high five to Peyton which she meets with an unimpressed expression.

"What happened to me?" Clara asks.

"Don't you remember?" Peyton gets to her feet to stand beside the Doctor, looking up to her window.

"I was scared. Really scared," she recalls. "I didn't know where I was."

"Do you know now?" The Doctor asks.

"Yes."

"Well then, you should go back to sleep, because you're safe now, I promise. Goodnight, Clara."

"Goodnight," Peyton agrees, turning to sit back into the chair.

The street is silent for a moment as the window clicks closed.

"Are you two guarding me?" Clara re-emerges.

"Well, yes. Yes, we are," the Doctor says, after fiddling with the robot some more.

Clara chuckles at that.

"You both seriously going to sit down there all night?"

"Yeah, we promise. We will not budge from this spot," the Doctor tosses his sonic and crosses his legs.

"Well, then. I'll have to come to you."

The window clicks shut again and the two Time Lords look at each other with concern.

The Doctor gets to his feet, looking around nervously while straightening his bow tie.

"Doctor, there's nothing around, she'll be fine, right?" Peyton prods the robot with the end of her sonic pen.

"Yes, of course," he nods, mostly to himself before turn back to Peyton and the robot, making himself look busy.

The front door opens begins them a few minutes later and Clara emerges, a dining chair hanging off her elbow, and three mugs of tea between her hands. 

"I like your house," the Doctor says, Peyton hides her eye roll at his feeble attempt at conversation.

"It isn't mine," she replies. "I'm a friend of the family.

"Do you look after the kids?" He asks as she sets her chair down, careful not to spill any of the tea. "Oh, yes, you're a governess, aren't you, just like..."

Clara hands him a mug with a frown. "Just like what." She hands another to Peyton who takes it with a nod.

"Just like," he takes a sip as Clara sits backwards on her chair, opposite Peyton. "I thought you probably would be."

"Are either of you going to explain what happened to me?" She asks, looking for the Doctor to Peyton.

"We think, that there's something in the wifi," Peyton says, leaning forward on her elbows before taking a sip of the tea.

"Okay?" Clara says, her tone intrigued and less scared than Peyton thought she'd be.

The Doctor sits down beside Peyton and picks Clara's laptop off the floor. "This whole world is swimming in Wi-Fi. We're living in a Wi-Fi soup! Suppose something got inside it. Suppose there was something living in the Wi-Fi, harvesting human minds, extracting them."

"Think of it like, human souls trapped like flies in the World Wide Web," Peyton adds. "Stuck forever, crying out for help."

"Isn't that basically Twitter?"

Peyton lets out a huff of agreement before looking out into the dark street and taking a long sip of tea.

"What's that look for?" Clara asks. Peyton looks over to the Doctor where the familiar that's-not-right face has etched itself into his features.

"A computer can hack another computer. A living, sentient computer... Maybe that could hack people. Edit them. Rewrite them."

"Why would you say that?"

"And Doctor, that isn't human technology. That is never human technology," Peyton reminds him.

The Doctor looks toward Peyton and then back to Clara. "Because a few hours ago you knew nothing about the internet. And you just made a joke about Twitter."

"Oh," Clara frowns, lifting a hand to her temple. "Oh, that's weird. I know all about computers now in my head. Where did that all come from?"

"You were uploaded for a while," the Doctor says. "Wherever you were, you brought something extra back."

Peyton sits up a little straighter and turns her head to look into the street. A man stands at a distance, a couple houses down on the other side of the road, but definitely watching. "And I very much doubt you'll be allowed to keep it."

The Doctor gets to his feet and peers past her at the figure as he continues to stand impossibly rigid in the cold.

"Clara, get inside that box, now. Peyton and I will join you in a sec," the Doctor instructs.

"I'm sorry?" Clara's voice drips with sarcasm and her eyebrows arch so high that they almost reach her hairline.

"Just get inside," Peyton agrees, grabbing her forearm gently and pulling her up.

"All three of us?"

"Trust me, you'll understand once we're in there," the Doctor says as he fiddles with the key.

"I bet I will," Clara pulls her arm away from Peyton's grip.

"Clara, please," she says through gritted teeth, throwing a glance over her shoulder to the man, still standing in place.

"What is that box, anyway? Why do you have a box?"

"Clara!" The Doctor hurries her.

"Is it like a snogging booth?"

"A what?" Peyton blinks, completely taken aback.

"Is that what you two do, you bring a booth? There's such thing as too keen." She takes another sip of her tea.

A light turning on in the window of the next house down catches Peyton's eye. And then another window lights up, then another.

"Clara, look around you," the Doctor says as the whole street begins to light up in unison. She turns and looks around at the lights, confused.

"What's going on?" She asks. "Is the Wi-Fi switching on the lights?"

"No, the people are switching on the lights," the Doctor says, keeping an eye on their stationary stalker.

"The Wi-Fi is switching into the people..." Peyton mutters but her voice trails off as she watches the head of the man spin around, revealing the blueish glow of the base station's interface.

"What is that thing?" Clara gasps.

"A walking base station, you saw one earlier," the Peyton answers.

"I saw a little girl."

"It must have taken an image from your subconscious, thrown it back at you," the Doctor hypothesises. "Ah!" He gasps, clapping his hands to his head. "Active camouflage!"

"Then they could be everywhere," Peyton whispers, stepping back toward the Tardis, much preferring to be in there right now.

"Doctor, Peyton," Clara calls, looking off into the distance behind her house.

Peyton and the Doctor rush to her side and peers over the roof of the garage where greater London can be seen in the distance, all their lights going out.

"What's going on?" She asks quietly. "Our lights on, everyone else's off. Why?"

"Some planes have Wi-Fi," the Doctor says, seemingly out of nowhere until Peyton's ears pick up on the loud hum of a plane engine and her eyes catch the blinking red lights against the inky sky.

"I'm sorry?" Clara looks to him, confused.

"We must be one hell of a target right now," Peyton says, all the colour draining from her face as she realises that the plane is heading in their direction.

"Everyone, box, now!" The Doctor grabs Clara by the hand and pulls her along, Peyton following behind her.

She slams the doors closed behind herself before running past Clara with the Doctor to the console.

"Yes, it's a spaceship," the Doctor says as he throws the Tardis into flight. Peyton grips the side of the console staring down at all the buttons as she has no clue how the Tardis has rearranged them. "Yes, it's bigger on the inside. No, we don't have time to talk about it."

Peyton spares a glance Clara's way, she seems fine. Well, her mind is being blown by futuristic alien technology but as fine as she can be. Rory usually handled this part, albeit begrudgingly. Peyton's hearts ache as she lets her mind wander, even for a second.

"But... but... but it's," Clara stammers, making her way around the flight deck, staring around, still clutching her tea.

"Shut up, please, short hops are difficult," the Doctor says, dashing between the central controls and the side panel.

"Bigger. On the inside. Actually bigger!"

"Doctor, how short of a hop are we doing?" Peyton asks, ignoring Clara, unable to predict the Doctor's plan.

"Very," he grits her teeth before slamming on the brakes. "Right, come on!"

Without a second thought, Peyton sprints after the Doctor as he runs toward the door.

"Wait, are we going back out there?" Clara protests, the poor girl still staring around and clutching her teacup.

"We've moved. It's a spaceship," the Doctor says, grabbing her arm. "We flew away."

"But where to, Doctor?" Peyton asks, she didn't even think to look at the monitor in the rush.

"Away from the plane?" Clara asks.

"Not exactly," he grimaces before charging out of the Tardis, letting out a battle cry and dragging Clara behind him.

"How did we get here!" Clara shrieks as the three of them are knocked off balance as they step out of the gravity controlled Tardis and into the turbulent plane.

"It's a space ship," Peyton yells over the sound of the engines.

"No time to explain now, it's all very sciency!" The Doctor shouts as her begins to charge down the aisle of the plane.

Peyton looks out across the passengers as she follows close behind Clara, they're all slumped forward against the chair in front of them.

"Is this the plane, the actual plane?" Clara yells.

"Doctor, what happened to the passengers?" Peyton pauses to rest her hands on the sides of one man's throat. There's still a pulse, thank God.

"Asleep, switched off by the Wi-Fi, they'll be fine!"

"Aside from crashing," Peyton reminds him as she catches up.

Ahead, the Doctor pulls out his sonic, pointing it at the cockpit door, causing it to spring open so the three can barrel inside.

Peyton's eyes widen at the panoramic view of a darkened London beyond the glass. Darkened except for one stretch in the distance, lit up like a Christmas tree. Clara's street.

She looks down to see both the pilots asleep as well, leaving the plane defenceless. She whips out her sonic pen and points it forward at the controls, not really sure what she's doing. There should be an autopilot, right? She just had to find it.

"What is going on? Is this real? Please tell me what is happening!" Clara screams as she clings for dear life

The Doctor laughs. "I'm the Doctor, she's Peyton," the Doctor yells. "We're aliens from outer space. We've got two hearts, I'm a thousand years old. And neither of us can fly a plane, can you?"

"No!" She replies quietly, shell shocked from the Doctor's info dump.

"Well, that's great," Peyton lowers her sonic, gritting her teeth. "Let's all learn together."

Peyton and the Doctor both lunge forward and each grab one of the pilot's wheels and pull back with all their might, letting out loud screams as they do.

Peyton feels two hands grab her shoulders as the plane's nose begins to rise just as they get incredulously close to Clara's street.

"Wooooo, haha!" The Doctor cries as the plane rises back up to an appropriate altitude. "Do you think a victory roll would be too show-offy?"

"Just a bit," Peyton exhales heavily, releasing the wheel and inspecting how white her knuckles are flushed, Clara's vice-like grip on her shoulders loosening to just a steadying weight.

"What the hell's going on?" The pilot, now awake, stares at them wide-eyed.

"Well," the Doctor says, pointing his sonic to the roof. "I'm blocking your Wi-Fi so you're waking up for a start."

"Tell you what," Peyton nods, patting the co-pilot on the shoulder as he comes around. "Do you want to drive?"

Of course, the Wi-Fi. Why didn't she think of that when she was trying to hack the plane. She's gotten rusty in the past seven months

She gets to her feet and turns toward the door. She passes Clara, her hair a mess, taking a sip of tea from a shaky hand, how she still has held onto that is a mystery.

• • •

Peyton runs her hands over the Tardis controls, recognising a few of the buttons and pointing to a few for the Doctor to name for her.

"Okay," Clara says after a few silent minutes, slamming her mug down on the middle of the console. "When are you two going to explain to me what the hell is going on?"

"Breakfast," the Doctor smirks, casually slamming on the breaks again.

"What?" Clara exclaims as the Doctor runs off to the door, Peyton close behind him. "I ain't waiting till breakfast."

Peyton slows, grabbing the Doctor's forearm before he can pushing open the Tardis door. "It's a time machine," she reveals, a smile on her face she can't quite contain. "You never have to wait till breakfast."

Clara's eyebrows furrow but her slight smile gives her away.

Peyton lowers her hand and the Doctor throws both the doors wide open, and sunlight pours into the Tardis.

The applause is new. Stepping out into the morning London light, they are meet by a small crowd of passerbys, clapping and cheering for what must have been the spectacle of a great big box appearing out of thin air.

"Thank you, thank you," the Doctor smiles.

Peyton lifts a hand to wave at the onlookers while looking up to the Doctor with a scowl. The show-off must have pulled down the perception filter around the Tardis. Why is he showing off for her anyway? He looks down to Peyton with an innocent smile to which she rolls her eyes.

"Yes, magic blue box, all donations gratefully accepted," the Doctor says, walking forward and pulling a fez out of God knows where. "Roll up, roll up, give us your dosh. Pennies, pounds, anything you've got. Keep collecting, we need enough for breakfast. Just popping back to the garage, Peyton!"

The Doctor thrusts the fez into Clara's hands, seemingly having just appeared out of the Tardis.

Peyton frowns but follows him back inside.

"Why can't we just take the Tardis to breakfast?" Peyton asks as the Doctor snatches Clara's laptop off the console before dashing down the stairs to a corridor.

"Because this will be way cooler!" He answers excitedly.

"Cooler?" Peyton mouths to herself as the Doctor halts and changes direction completely, himself obviously not fully acquainted with the new Tardis. It reminds her of when they first travelled together and he was always getting lost. It must have been new then as well.

"Here we are!" The Doctor cheers, pressing a button beside a metal door which slides open at the touch.

True to his word, there is a huge garage before them. Filled with fancy-looking cars, motorbikes and other non-terrestrial transportation.

"How do you get them in here?" Peyton asks.

"How do I get them in here?" The Doctor repeats in a mocking tone. "Does it matter. Here these will do!"

Peyton has a black motorcycle helmet thrown at her, followed by a pair of leather gloves which she catches just in time.

"You still remember how to ride, don't you?" The Doctor asks, grabbing two more helmets and swinging a long leg over the saddle of bike.

"It's been a few decades but hey, I'm sure it will come back," she says confidently, untying her hair and sliding the helmet over her head. "Let me grab a blue tooth on the way out, I need to make a phone call on the way."

• • •

"So, if we can travel anyway in time and space, why did we travel to the morning? What's the point in that?" Clara asks over her milkshake while the Doctor types away furiously on her laptop, his tea already finished.

"Whoever's after us spent the whole night looking for us," the Doctor explains. "Are you tired?"

"Yes."

"Well, then imagine how they feel," Peyton gesticulates with her own milkshake glass. "They has to come the long way around."

"They've got to be close, definitely London going by the signal distribution" the Doctor mutters, still typing away. "I can hack the lowest level of their operating system, but I can't establish a physical location, the security's too good."

"U.N.I.T's on it as we speak," Peyton reminds him. She had caught Kate and the tech department up on everything on the way over.

"Oh, if I can't do it, what use are they?" The Doctor scoffs.

"Are you aliens?" Clara asks out of the blue, fiddling with her straw in her fingertips.

"We are, yes. Okay with that?" Peyton asks flatly.

"Fine, yeah. I think I'm fine. But why is he 'the Doctor' when you have a regular human name?"

"Well," Peyton chuckles slightly, side-eyeing the Doctor. "I think he thinks it makes him sound cool."

Clara giggles as the Doctor shoots Peyton a glare.

"So what happens if you do find them? What happens then?" She asks as she calms herself.

"I don't know," the Doctor sighs. "We can't tell the future, we just work there."

"You don't have a plan?"

"He never usually does," Peyton comments before taking the last sip of her drink. "We'll think of something when we actually know what we are looking for."

"You know what I say about plans?" The Doctor looks across the table to Clara.

"What?"

"I don't have one!"

Peyton rolls her eyes.

"People always have plans," she shrugs.

"Yes," the Doctor pauses typing with a frown before leaning back into his chair. "Yes, I suppose they do. So tell us, how long have you been looking after those kids?"

He slams the laptop shut and Peyton wonders if this conversation is really necessary to saving London from murderous Wi-Fi.

"About a year, since their mum died."

"Okay, but why you? Family friend, I get that, but there must have been others. Why did it have to be you? I mean, you don't really seem like a nanny."

Clara's nose crinkles for a moment before she slides her glass aside and grabs her laptop. "Gimme."

"Ha! Sorry, what?" The Doctor slams his hand down on it, dragging it back tears him.

"You need to know where they physically are, their exact location," Clara leans forward.

"Yes."

"I can do it," she snatches it back again, holding it out of his reach.

"Oi! Hang on, I need that!"

"You've hacked the lower operating system, yeah? I'll have their physical location in under five minutes. You two can pop off and get us a coffee."

"If I can't find them, you definitely can't," the Doctor pulls the computer back toward him, but Clara's fingers stay steadily clamped on it.

"They uploaded me, remember," she pulls it back, this time his hands aren't letting go either. "I've got computing stuff in my head."

The Doctor pulls again. "So do I."

Peyton closes her eyes with a deep sigh, leaning back in her chair.

Clara pulls back."I have insane hacking skills."

"I'm from space, and the future with two hearts and... twenty seven brains."

"And I can find them in under five minutes, plus photographs."

"Enough!" Peyton orders, slamming her hand down on the device in the middle of the table so neither of them can move it. She glares between the two, mostly at the Doctor however. "She's got a point, let her test her theory."

The Doctor releases his grip with a pout, using the force to lean back in his chair and fold his arms.

"Five minutes, photos, promise," she smiles, opening the laptop again.

"The security is absolute," the Doctor checks his watch, as if starting a timer in his head.

"It's never about the security, it's about the people. She begins typing, leaving the two Time Lords to look between one another, impressed.

"Shall we?" Peyton asks, getting to her feet. The Doctor nods still clearly sulking and follows suit. She turns and heads for the open doors back into the cafe.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Clara asks, causing Peyton to stop in the doorway and look back at the Doctor who is indeed staring at her.

"Sorry, no, it's nothing," he blurts. "It's just, you're a nanny. Isn't that, a bit, well, Victorian?"

Peyton sighs, not sure what he's trying to do. She's clearly not the same woman he met before.

"Victorian?" She snaps back.

"You're young," he says. "Shouldn't you be doing, you know, young things. With- with- with young, people?"

His little dance garners some amused snickers from other breakfast goers around the cafe balcony, Peyton just pretends she's not with him.

"What, you mean like one of you two, for instance? Down boy," she teases. Peyton rolls her eyes and turns to walk inside.

The Doctor catches up to her in a matter of seconds, smiling contently.

"So where are we going first," Peyton asks, clasping her hands behind her back. "You know, after we take care of the Wi-Fi commandeers and drop Clara back home?"

"Well, I thought I would invite her to travel with me- with us," he admits.

"What?" Peyton stops in her tracks and the Doctor halts a step in front of her. "What do you mean?"

"I've already asked her, well, I asked the Victorian Clara. I gave her a key and everything. But she's, you know, clever, and brave, and... I have to know. She's impossible, a mystery I cannot just leave be."

"You used to say I was impossible," Peyton huffs, looking away. "Is she just your new thing. Something to entertain you?"

No, of course not," the Doctor reasons. "You're being ridiculous. What? Are you jealous?"

"What? No! There's nothing to be jealous of," she scoffs, walking off in the direction of the cafe counter. "Is this what you do? When your last human toys break, you get new ones?"

"Hey," the Doctor's hand on her shoulder stops her in her tracks, but she doesn't turn to him. "It's not like that, it's never like that. If, if you need more time, when we're done here I can go away again."

"Don't you dare," Peyton shoots back, spinning to face him, knocking his hand away from her. "I think if I stay on Earth for literally another day, I might go crazy."

The Doctor's serious face softens into the goofy smile Peyton has come to love. "And you're okay if I ask her to come?"

Peyton looks past the Doctors shoulder and out of the floor to ceiling windows at Clara, who is still working at the laptop dutifully, a confident smile on her face. "If she doesn't get us or herself killed today, I'll think about it."

The Doctor winks and pats Peyton twice on the cheek. "Thank you."

He strolls past her toward the pastry cabinet atop the counter, gasping wide-eyed at a chocolate cake that sits atop a cake stand on it.

He picks it up and spins, drawing in a deep breath through his nose before placing it back down on the counter. He promptly begins ogling all the other sweet treats in the glass case.

"Two more cappuccinos and a mocha, please. Table eleven," Peyton nods to the balding man behind the counter.

"One moment, ma'am," he smiles kindly before heading in the direction of the shining coffee machine.

Peyton's eyes travel back to the Doctor who is still gleefully investigating the biscuits and the tarts, picking up a scone and taking a bite as the lights flicker overhead.

"You realise you haven't the slightest chance of saving your little friend?"

The Doctor stops in his tracks mid-bite as he and Peyton both stare at the man standing stiffly and glaring at them, eyes blown wide.

He relaxes and returns to making coffees.

"Sorry, what?" The Doctor frowns.

"I said, one moment, sir."

The lights flicker again.

"I said," he stiffens again. "There is not the slightest chance that you can save your little friend." The Doctor leans forward over the counter. "And don't annoy the old man, he isn't, in fact, speaking."

Again, the lights flicker and the man returns to his work.

"I'm speaking."

A woman's voice behind them causes the Time Lords to turn to see one of the waitresses standing as stiffly as the man was, staring right through them. "Just using whatever's to hand. Oh, she's rather pretty, isn't she? Do you like her?"

The Doctor walks up and stands close to the woman, staring down at her menacingly.

"I can make her like you too, if you want."

The lights flicker and the waitress jumps slightly as she sees the Doctor standing so near her, looking down at her threateningly.

"Are you alright, sir?" She asks in an uncomfortable voice.

"Um, yes. Yes, he's fine," Peyton says, pulling the Doctor away from her.

"Sorry," he apologises, blinking dramatically. He slowly offers her the scone he had taken a bite of awkwardly, she takes it, confused, before the Doctor sprints off outside.

Peyton shoots after him.

They both skid to a halt as they reach their table, Clara still at work.

"You okay?" The Doctor asks, worriedly.

"Sure, setting up stuff, need a user name."

"Learning fast," Peyton says sarcastically. They both turn to head back inside

"Clara Oswald for the win. Oswin!"

Both of them halt, looking back to Clara and then to each other.

Oswin Oswald. The girl who died saving their lives on the Dalek asylum. It's the same voice too. Peyton has to admit that the Doctor is seeming less crazy now, the reality may just be crazier.

Peyton clicks her fingers in front of the Doctor's face and nods back to the café. He nods in agreement and with one last look back to Clara he heads off, Peyton close behind.

Stepping back inside the building, the lights flicker immediately, they're being watched.

"Now I want you to take a look around," the waitress from before strolls up to them. "Go on, have a little stroll. And see how impossible your situation is. Go on. Take a look, I do love showing off."

The lights flicker and yet again, the poor woman shoots a dirty look toward the Doctor before hurrying off.

"This is a trap," Peyton mutters under her breath.

"Yep."

"And we're okay with that?"

"Yep."

"Okay."

The flickering of the lights sets Peyton on edge, looking around for the latest victim.

"Just let me show you what control of the Wi-Fi can do for one." A young girl, no more than nine or ten, stares up at them, clutching her comic book in her arm. "Stop!"

Suddenly, all the patrons freeze in place, scattered around the cafe in various position.

"We saw what you can do last night," Peyton scowls.

"And clear!"

The flicker of the lights seems to signal each of the frozen statues to move again, this time vacating the room quickly, leaving the Doctor and Peyton alone in the room.

"We can hack anyone in the Wi-Fi, once they've been exposed long enough." Across the room, the news lady on the television on the wall makes eye contact with them. "Even your little apprentice here."

Peyton grimaces, waiting for the worst but the lights don't flicker and she doesn't seem to be losing control.

"Oh," the lady frowns. "You're blocking my signal, that's a little clever, how are you managing that."

"Sonic technology," the Doctor says, patting his chest where his sonic screwdriver lays beneath his coat. "Blocks any malicious signal even when dormant. Downloaded that little bit of software just for you." He nods to Peyton with a smile.

"Well, give us time and we'll find a way around that soon enough," she smiles darkly. "We've had our eye on Peyton Barrett for a while now."

Peyton's hands curl into fists by her side and clenches her jaw, staring daggers at the woman behind the screen.

"Well, you aren't going to do that from all the way over there," the Doctor gibes. "So there's one of your walking base stations somewhere close."

"There's always someone close," she says sweetly. "We've released thousands into the world. They home in on the Wi-Fi, like rats sniffing cheese."

"I don't know who you are or why you're doing this," the Doctor begins, marching over to the television. "But the people of this world will not be harmed, they will not be controlled, they will not be-"

"The people of this world are in no danger whatsoever," she interrupts. "My client requires a steady diet of living human minds. Healthy, free-range human minds. He loves and cares for humanity. In fact, he can't get enough of it."

"It's obscene," Peyton rasps.

"It's murder," the Doctor fumes.

"It's life," the woman laughs sarcastically. "The farmer tends to his flock like a loving parent. The abattoir is not a contradiction. No one loves cattle more than Burger King."

"This ends," the Doctor says. "We are going to end this today."

"How? You don't even know where we are."

"Who's doing this? Who is your client?" Peyton demands but gets no other answer than a cocky grin.

"Hmm? Answer her!" The Doctor yells.

For a moment, the woman doesn't say anything, she doesn't even move. That is until the lights in her studio flicker and she returns to reading the news.

The Doctor and Peyton look to one another, unable to understand what happened.

"Clara!" The Doctor gasps before sprinting toward the balcony again.

Peyton inhales deeply before following him.

"Clara! Clara!" The Doctor calls.

Clara lays slumped over her laptop, towering over her, the Doctor, but's it's obviously not the real one. Other than the fact that he's beside Peyton right now, his head is on backward, quite literally.

"Doctor? Peyton?" Clara's muffled voice calls out through the robot. "Help me! I don't know where I am."

The robots head begins to turn slowly, revealing its concave, satellite-like face to them.

"I don't understand. Peyton! Doctor! Help me, please. I don't know where I am. I don't know where I am!"

Peyton steps closer, her brows drawing together as she watches the frantic image of Clara's face projected onto the interface. She looks between it and the real Clara, unconscious on the table.

"I don't know where I am. Doctor, Peyton, please, please, help me. I don't know where I am. I don't know where I am."

The Doctor seems to snap out of his trance before Peyton does, whipping out his sonic screwdriver and scanning the robot. Peyton blinks herself alert and walks briskly to Clara's side, grabbing her wrist and feeling for a pulse.

This time there's nothing.

"Doctor, she's..." Peyton says softly, turning her head up to the Doctor as she gently places Clara's hand back down on the table.

"No, no, no!" He growls, still intently waving his sonic in front of the robot all the while, Clara's voice continues to call out her terrified mantra.

"Doctor! Peyton! Help me. I don't know where I am!"

"Doctor, what are you doing?" Peyton asks frustratingly. "She's gone."

"Nope," he smiles, flicking his sonic at her. "Well, she's gone from her body but she's being stored somewhere, her mind." He dashes back to his seat at the table and carefully removes Clara's laptop from under her and begins typing at it. "She's got it! She found them. Oh good. Peyton, I've hacked into the base station now, it's under my control."

To demonstrate his point, he taps a key and in response, the robot straightens its bow tie.

"I'm sending him in, you go with him."

"What?" Peyton splutters, looking between the robot and the Doctor.

"Yes, it has to look convincing," he says. He writes another few lines of code and the robot beside Peyton relaxes and stands idly as if it were really the Doctor, looking at his wristwatch and swaying back on its heels. "Take one of the bikes and go pay our new friends a visit. Call U.N.I.T on the way, get them to surround and lock down the Shard."

"The Shard?"

"Yes, that's where they are," the Doctor says exasperatedly as of expecting Peyton to already know this. He pulls out his sonic and tosses it to his doppelgänger. "Now go."

Peyton nods, pulling out the keys and leather gloves from her jeans' pockets before racing back through the building, their newly converted pal on her tail.

• • •

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Peyton screams as she squeezes the robot's waist tighter, not daring to open her eyes as they race up the side of the glass building.

She feels his weight shift and she dares to force an eye open to see him only holding onto the bike handles with one hand, the other using the sonic screwdriver to points directly upwards.

Cyberman, Sontarans, even ruddy Daleks. And this is how she's going to die? Great.

Peyton realises what he's doing when a panel of glass shatters a few feet ahead over them and the Doctor leans forward, pitching them into the building.

Peyton jumps off the bike immediately, glass crunching beneath her sneakers as she takes her goggles and helmet off, shaking out her long blonde hair.

The Doctor, or rather the robot Doctor, jumps off too He pushes up the goggles onto his helmet but doesn't take it off. Peyton can hardly tell that underneath it, where the back of his head should be, the concave surface is hidden.

He walks around the sleek black desk, letting the motorbike fall onto its side on the floor, and plops himself down into the leather chair belonging to whoever runs this place and throws his feet up on the desk.

Peyton places her helmet on the desk and jumps up to sit beside it, looking around at the minimal, sleek decor.

"Do come in," a woman's voice says sarcastically as the door to the office is pushed open. Her mousy face looks upon the intruders choice of seating and footrest disapprovingly.

The Doctor waves. "Download her."

"Sorry about the draught," she motions toward the window, her voice still dripping with sarcasm.

"Download her back into her body, right now," he clarifies.

"I can't," she smiles smugly.

"Yes, you can," the Doctor argues.

"She's a fully integrated part of the data cloud now," she explains, walking further into the room. "She can't be separated."

"Then download the entire cloud then," Peyton suggests with an entirely fabricated smile. "Every poor soul you've trapped in there."

"You realise what would happen?"

"Yes, those still with bodies to go home to would be free," the Doctor says, getting to his feet and opening his arms wide.

"A tiny number," she scoffs. "Most would simply die."

"They'd be released from a living hell," Peyton snarls. The Doctor places a hand on her shoulder before walking around the desk and stepping in front of her and towards whoever this psycho is.

"It's the best you can do for them, so give the order," he taps her on the nose.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because he's going to motivate you," Peyton smirks, leaning back on her hand and propping a foot up on the edge of the desk which the woman winces at. "Any. second. now," she says in a sing song voice.

"You ridiculous people," she says confidently as the Doctor walks around her till her back is to Peyton. "Why did you even come here? Whatever for?"

"I didn't," the Doctor smiles.

"What?" Kate says, confused.

"Yeah, but I had to," Peyton grumbles.

"I'm still in the cafe," the Doctor says. "I'm finishing my coffee. Lovely spot."

"What are you talking about," a quaver of fear starts to show in her voice.

"You hack people," the Doctor unclicks the fastures in his helmet. "But me? I'm old fashioned. I hack technology." He pulls the helmet off his head. "Here's your motivation."

Peyton jumps up from her spot and walks over to stand in front of the doors, crossing her eyes with a smug smile as the woman looks at her pleadingly as she understands what is about to happen.

The robot-Doctor stiffens before his head begins to rotate, revealing the technological interface.

"No. No. No!" She screams, stumbling back until she hits her desk before crouching down beside it. "Not me! Not me!"

A blue beam of light erupts from the robot and hits the woman's face, holding her writhing in pain for a second before she slumps to the floor.

"Alright, What now?" Peyton asks.

The robot's head spins back around before it walks over to the desk and picks up a tablet.

"We get everyone back," he says, scrolling through something. "We get Clara back."

Not even a few seconds pass before a loud alarm sound blares from behind the office doors for just a second.

"Peyton, she's back," the robot says. "She's fine, she's alive."

The woman stirs by the robot-Doctor's feet but doesn't yet wake.

"Yep, I missed this," Peyton smiles, flexing her shoulder muscles and sighing happily.

"The Doctor and the Apprentice," the robot smiles. "Back together."

Peyton laughs, rolling her eyes. Oh, how she hates that title.

"I'm powering this fella down now," he says. "See ya later, P."

"See ya later," she salutes as the robot stiffens and it's holographic shell disappears.

She pulls out her phone and barks into it.

"All clear, all personnel are cleared to move into the building."

She puts her phone back away before turning to the office doors and pushing them open with both hands.

"Unified Intelligence Taskforce!" she bellows, catching the attention of all the employees on the floor below. "You have the right to remain silent, do not resist arrest."

• • •

She finds the Tardis standing in her living room as she stumbles into her flat after dark, a slight glow emanating from its windows into the dark of the apartment.

She smiles softly and heads upstairs, grabbing her things, laptop, chargers, clothes, and can't forget a toothbrush before leisurely making her way downstairs again and into the blue box.

"Good... uh, what time is it?" The Doctor asks, not looking up from where he lays under the console, reaching up and fiddling with something underneath it, his new coat discarded over the railing.

"Evening. Good evening to you too, Doctor," Peyton replies.

"How was it then?" He asks, jumping up from the floor and dusts off his hands on his pants.

"Uh, yeah," Peyton grimaces, resting her duffel bag on the seat by the controls. "All of the employees, it was if they had their memories wiped, kept insisting that they were janitors, teachers, bus drivers, and that they had no idea where they were. Three months of their lives unaccounted for. They all matched up with missing persons cases from across the U.K. And the systems as well, completely wiped. Not a trace of who this client of theirs may have been. The woman, Kizlet, Rosemary Kizlet, it was like she has regressed back to a child. She matched a missing persons case from nearly fifty years ago. Crazy. And then that's all I know. It was deemed 'not my department' so, on the bright side, no paperwork."

"Yes, that's all very odd, isn't it?" The Doctor frowns before pacing around the console. "Well, your best people at U.NI.T are on it so I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."

"Glad to see you finally have faith," Peyton teases before grabbing the stars of her duffel bag again. "Now, you wouldn't happen to know where I could find my room?"

"Yes, but before that," the Doctor says nervously, fiddling with his hands instead of look up at her. "What did you think of Clara?"

"Oh. yeah," Peyton falters. "Well, I mean. She's pretty clever I guess, quick in a crisis. Pretty, not that that matters of course."

"And what about her, you know, coming to travel with us?"

The Doctor finally looks up to meet Peyton's eyes. She bites her lip, trying to look through his irises to attempt to get an idea of what he's thinking. Of course, with the Doctor, she can never be sure.

"It would really mean that much to you," she says. "You finally managed to save her life, travelling with us, with you. You can't guarantee her safety."

"It would, yes," he answers. "And I can't guarantee anything, but I just know I have to figure her out, she's simply impossible and I have to know, I have to."

Peyton exhales heavily, a slight smile dancing across her lips. "Alright, she can come. But if she gets us killed, I'm going to murder you, then say I told you so."

The Doctor's face lights up before running up to embrace her. "Bedrooms should be down that corridor. Three lefts then a right. Next to the conservatory."

• • •

The sound of the Tardis door creaking open causes Peyton to look up from the console and to the entrance where Clara closes the door behind her.

"So, they come back, do they?"

The Doctor had dropped them outside Clara's house again in the night, allowing Peyton to get some rest while he got up to whatever he does alone in the Tardis.

"You didn't answer my question," the Doctor says, not looking up from his book on the staircase to the Tardis balcony, Amy's reading glasses perched on his face.

"What question?" She asks, folding her arms and walking forward slowly.

"You don't seem like a nanny," he turns the page, looking over the rim of the glasses at her.

"I was going to travel," she admits. "I came to stay for a week before I left and during that week..."

"She died," the Doctor closes his book. "So you're returning the favour. You've got a hundred and one places to see, and you haven't been to any of them, have you? That's why you keep the book."

"I keep the book 'cause I'm still going," she skips up to the console and runs her hand along it.

"But you don't run out on the people you care about," Peyton says quietly, looking across at her as she admires all the different knobs and levers.

"I wish I was more like that," the Doctor murmurs but the echo of the Tardis allows the two to hear it. He tucks the glasses into his jacket before getting to his feet and swinging himself down the steps on the railings. "You know, the thing about a time machine, is that you can run away all you like and still be home in time for tea, so what do you say? Anywhere. All of time and space, right outside those doors."

Clara laughs. "Does this work?"

"Pardon?" Peyton frowns.

"Is this actually what you two do," she chortles before walking around the console. "Do you just crook your fingers and people just jump in your snog box and fly away?"

"It is not a snog box!" The Doctor insists.

"I'll be the judge of that," she says, a mischievous smile falling toward Peyton who furrows her eyebrows and turns away to hide a flush of warmth in her cheeks.

"Starting when?" The Doctor asks, Peyton still pretending to be interested in the wall of the console room.

"Come back tomorrow, ask me again," she replies finally.

"Why?" The Doctor asks grumpily, Peyton turns around to, unable to believe that someone actually just turned down an invitation to travel in the Tardis.

"Because tomorrow, I might say yes," she says, turning and heading for the door. "Sometime after seven okay for you?"

"It's a time machine," the Doctor calls after her. "Any time's okay."

"See you then," Clara smiles in the doorway.

"Clara?" The Doctor catches her just as she's about to leave.

"Uh-huh?"

"In your book, there was a leaf, why?"

"That wasn't a leaf, that was page one."

And with that, she pulls open the door and exits into the morning light of old London Town.

The Doctor says nothing as he walks around his console.

"So what now? To kill the time?" Peyton asks. "Unless we're headed there right now."

"Clara Oswald," he breaks the silence. "It's time to find out who she is."


	38. In the Tardis #6

Peyton looks around the console as the Doctor reenters the Tardis, muttering to himself under his breath.

"You don't think it's a little bit creepy to be basically stalking a six-year-old?" She asks.

"I'm not..." the Doctor glares, giving up knowing that Peyton wouldn't let it go. "I just have to know, she's impossible!"

"Yeah, uh-huh," Peyton nods boredly, reaching over to grab the monitor. That's the thirty-seventh time he's said that exact phrase in the last thirty two hours. She pulls it around to take another look at the records the Doctor had pulled up.

She frowns at the file for the Junior Entertainment Officer for Starship Alaska: Oswin Oswald. It's her, more than just a splitting image. An entire life, birth certificate, missing persons report; presumed dead. Medical, school, employment records, everything.

And then she's there in Victorian London, just as the Doctor has said. Birth certificate, death certificate, employment contracts, photographs. It's completely baffling.

"Right," the Doctor huffs, starting up the Tardis. "We need to jump forward a couple years real quick."

"Sure," Peyton throws herself back into the grey seat on the flight deck, sighing and burying her forehead in her hand.

She hears the Tardis land but the sound of the Doctor skipping out toward the doors never comes.

Peyton dares to peer up toward him over her hand and sees him gazing at her from across the console with those sad hazel eyes.

Neither say anything as the Doctor slowly lowers his hands from the controls and walks around the console toward her before crouching at her side, looking up into her stormy eyes, searching, trying to unravel her.

"Do you want to, talk... about what happened?" He speaks slowly, as if unsure of the words that will come out of his mouth before he says them.

"Doctor, I-"

"Have you talked about what happened?" He interrupts.

Peyton lets out a dry laugh. "What? You think I just waltzed into a psychologists office and was all like 'hello, my two best friends were viciously ripped from my life and displaced into the 1930s by alien statues who only move when you're not looking and I have no way of seeing them again. While we're chatting, my dad was a former prime minister and an alien who tried to take over the world and murder everyone'!"

She folds her arms and looks away from the Doctor, tears prickling in her eyes.

"Peyton," he places a delicate hand on her knee. "Grief is a horrendous experience, but you cannot hold it all inside of you."

"Well," she blinks back her tears and glares at the Doctor, mustering up the most sarcastic tone she can. "That seems to work perfectly well for you."

"Please," he sighs. "Will you listen to me?"

Peyton unfolds her arms, placing her hands down into her lap, staring down at them defeatedly.

"What about your mum and dad? Lovely Mr and Mrs Barrett?" He suggests. "I'm sure they'll understand, you know."

"Oh, absolutely not," Peyton shakes her head before lifting her eyeline to look off towards the other side of the console room. "They still don't even know I'm not human. And I'm not going to tell them, it would break their hearts. My mum barely knows how to work her IPad, I'd rather not have to explain to her the facts of my biology."

"Keeping something like that from the people close to you might not be the best thing to do. What if something happens-"

"Do you think something will happen to them?" Peyton cuts him off very quickly, panic rising in her throat.

"Peyton, I can't promise anything, you know that," he says, looking to the floor, his hands dropping from her knee before he straightens out. "The curse of the Time Lords, the curse of our people, is that we live while everyone around us withers away to ash. When Gallifrey still spun in the stars, we mostly kept to our own kind, it was safer for us. Two hearts feel twice as much loss. I would never wish for you to lose anyone else but I can't guarantee anyone else's safety either."

Peyton nods. "I'm still not telling them."

"Please just think about it."

"Okay," she lies.

Silence once again hangs in the air of the time machine. Peyton slowly turns her head to look up at the ancient Time Lord who is still watching over her with that sad expression.

"Haven't you got a child to stalk?" She says with a pestering facade.

The Doctor sighs before tutting and walking off toward the door. "I'm not stalking her."

"Sure," Peyton gets to her feet as the door creaks open. "I'll be in the library."


	39. The Day Clara Saved Them

"So we're moving through actual time," Clara gawks, staring around the console room while the Doctor stands by the controls, watching her carefully.

Peyton leans with her back to the railing and hands resting on it nonchalantly as possible, looking anywhere but at Clara.

Yes, she had agreed to let Clara come aboard the Tardis but as the moment drew nearer, a sick feeling started growing in her stomach of her memories travelling with Amy and Rory in the time machine. She can't believe the Doctor is just replacing them. 

"So, what's it made of? Time?" She asks, bouncing up to the Doctor. "I mean, if you can just motor through it, it must be made of stuff, like jam's made of strawberries. So what's it made of?"

"Well. Not strawberries," Peyton says with a huff.

"No. No, no, no. That would be unacceptable," the Doctor says straightening his bow tie before walking around to the other side of the console but Clara meets him there.

"And we can go anywhere?"

"Within reason. Well, I say reason."

"So, we could go backwards in time?"

"And space. Yes."

"And forwards in time."

"And space. Totally. So," he spins back around to the other side of the console, Clara running around to the other side as well. "Where do you want to go, eh? What do you want to see?"

Clara doesn't answer for a moment, Peyton can't see her face as her back is facing her but the Doctor frowns and looks up to Peyton as if he's worried he'd broken the poor girl.

"I don't know," she says finally. "You know when someone asks you what's your favourite book and you forget every single book you've ever read?"

"No," the Doctor shakes his head. 

"Yes," Peyton says at the same time. 

Clara turns to Peyton, looking back to the Doctor with a confused expression before walking toward her.

"Exactly, poof! All gone from my head," she says. Peyton nods with a tight-lipped smile. "So where do I want to go?"

"Well, first-century Rome is always a knockout," Peyton shrugs, stepping away from her and walking around the console. "You could always meet a Queen. Queen Viccy! She's lovely by the way, except we can't go see her cause she's banished _him_. New Earth is lovely too."

Busy the time Peyton has finished she stands beside the Doctor, looking back at Clara who's stayed in the same spot.

"So, where do you want to go?" The Doctor asks again.

"So. So..." she jumps up the stair by the door and stares at them. "So, I'd like to see... I would like to see... what I would like to see is..." she spins around and smiles at the two Time Lords. "Something awesome."

The Doctor clicks his fingers before getting to work, prepping the Tardis for flight and through the vortex.

Peyton grips the edge of the console as Clara runs down and does the same beside her as the Doctor works, her face lit up in ecstasy, watching the time rotor bounce up and down.

The Tardis lands and Clara immediately runs to the door.

"Uh, Uh, Uh!" The Doctor calls, causing her to stop in her tracks and look back to him, an eyebrow raised. "Close your eyes."

She laughs nervously as the Doctor runs up beside her and offers her a hand.

She takes it hesitantly before letter her eyes flutter closed.

"Now we can go," he says, smiling at Peyton and nodding toward the door.

She sighs before walking past them and opening the Tardis door and stepping out into the unknown.

Looking out across the alien sky, Peyton smiles softly to herself. He's taken them to the Rings of Akhaten. The large red sun hangs proudly in the stars, surrounded by rings of asteroids and debris. She'd been here once before the Doctor, it was such a lovely day, just the two of them and, seeing all the market stalls and just enough items to barter for some lunch.

"Can you feel the light on your eyelids?" The Doctor asks, guiding Clara out of the Tardis and positioning her to face the cliff-edge, looking out into the galaxy.

"Mm-hmm."

"That's the light of an alien sun. Forward a couple of steps. Okay," he holds her shoulders and smiles widely. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," Clara nods as the Doctor's hands fall away. "No. Yes."

She slowly opens her eyes and stares out into the great expanse of space before her.

"Clara Oswald," Peyton says, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "Welcome to the Rings of Akhaten."

"It's..." she stammers, unable to form any words to describe what she's seeing.

"It is," the Doctor laughs. "It so completely is. But wait! There's more."

"More what?"

"Wait, wait, wait," the Doctor looks at his wristwatch. "In about five, four, three, two..."

A massive asteroid in the belt comes into view from behind another, atop it, a shining pyramid made of gold, visible from their perch. The Pyramid of Years, Peyton lets out a little gasp at its beauty

"What is it?" Clara asks softly, completely bewildered.

"The Pyramid of the Rings of Akhaten. It's a holy site for the Sun-singers of Akhet," the Doctor explains.

"The who of what?"

"Seven worlds all orbit that star," Peyton points toward the red sun. "And they all share the belief that life in this universe originated here. On that planet."

"All life?"

"In the universe," the Doctor echoes.

"Did it?"

"Well, that's what they believe," Peyton shrugs. "It's a nice story."

"Can we see it?" Clara asks. "Up close?"

The Doctor offers a hand to Clara who takes it with an excited smile.

"Peyton," he says. "Wanna drive?"

Peyton sighs. "I'm sure I can manage the trip, yeah."

He pulls Clara by the hand and the two dash toward the box together leaving Peyton to follow them slowly, arms crossed and a childish resentment bubbling beneath the surface.

• • •

Peyton watches as the Doctor pulling Clara begins him as he races out into the streets of one of the larger asteroids. The music, the smells, and the light all twirl through the air as Peyton closes the doors of the time machine. The chatter of thousands of creatures milling about causes Peyton to check her watch. She rolls her eyes and tries to hide a smile. The Festival of Offerings, she had seen it last time she was here but it was so beautiful.

Peyton catches up to the two and sees Clara's large brown eyes looking around at everything in wonder.

"Where are they from?" She asks, her eyes darting from one species to another.

"Oh, you know, the local system mostly," the Doctor says, eyeing a stall selling hot Yup Cakes.

"And what do I call them?"

"Well, let's see..." the Doctor mutters, scanning the crowd. "Ah! There go some Panbabylonians. A Lugal-Irra-Kush. Uh, some Lucanians." He starts to walk through the crowd. "A Hooloovoo. Ah!" He stops in front of a passerby of a species Peyton doesn't recognise, holding his hand up for what must be a customary greeting. "Qom VoTivig," he says before both he and the creature start grunting at each other lowly. "That chap's a Terrabeserker if the Kodian Belt," the Doctor says as it walks away. "You don't see many of them around anymore. Oh ho!" He runs off. "That's an Unltramancer. You know," he turns back to his two companions. "I forget how much I like it here. We should come here more often."

"You've been here before?" Clara asks.

"Yes. Yes. Yes. Peyton and I visited a while back and then once a long time ago with my granddaughter," he says before being distracted and walking off.

"What?" Clara blinks before mouthing the word 'granddaughter'.

"Come on," Peyton looks around, standing on her toes, just spotting the back of the Doctor's head. "Try not to get separated."

She grabs her forearm and pulls her through the crowd towards a stall where the Doctor is inspecting a basket of blue luminescent, somethings.

"Exotic fruit of some description," the Doctor answers her silent question. He pulls his sonic out and scans them quickly. "Non-toxic. Non-hallucinogenic. High in free radicals and low in other stuff, I shouldn't wonder."

Peyton and Clara both pick up one of these bright blue fruits each and take hesitant bites.

Peyton's face scrunches up as the bitter taste reaches the back of her throat.

"No?" The Doctor sighs. Peyton looks across to Clara who has the same displeased expression on her face. They both place the fruits back in the basket.

"So, why's everybody here?" Clara asks.

"Ah!" The Doctor smiles, wrapping an arm around their shoulders, pulling them close as he walks them down the street. "For the Festival of Offerings. Takes place every thousand years or so, when the rings align. It's quite a big thing, locally. Like Pancake Tuesday."

The Doctor spots something up ahead and removes his arms from the girls' shoulders and runs off, Peyton following him quickly.

"Look at these!" He laughs, pointing at some small gold ornaments in the shape of various alien fruits.

"Doctor! Peyton!" Clara's voice calls. Both Time Lords spun around to see the Earthling cowering from a tall alien, snarling at her menacingly.

They both storm over quickly, Peyton grabbing her arm and pulling her away from it and the Doctor steps in front of them and barks back at it.

"What's happening?" Clara frowns as Peyton releases her arm. "Why's it angry?"

"This isn't an 'it', it's a she," the Doctor explains. "Dor'een, meet Clara and Peyton. Clara and Peyton, meet Dor'een."

"Dor'een?" Clara laughs.

"Loose translation, she sounds a bit grumpy, but she's a total love, actually, aren't you?" he assures them, scratching underneath its chin. "Yes, you are. You know, she was just asking if we fancy renting a moped."

Dor'een steps back to reveal the vehicle on offer.

"So how much does it cost?" Clara asks, raising an eyebrow.

"They don't use money here, mostly," Peyton explains. "They prefer items of sentimental value. A photograph, love letter, something like that. That's what's used for currency here, I mean, it's hard to find someone who won't turn down a couple of credits lurking around, but for the most part, items of special value."

"Psychometry," the Doctor elaborates. "Objects psychically imprinted with their history. The more treasured they are, the more value they hold."

"That's horrible," Clara folds her arms.

"Better than using bits of paper," he shrugs.

"Then you pay," she looks him up and down.

"With what?" He rolls his eyes.

"Aren't you both a thousand years old, you must have something you care about between you?"

Peyton's fingertips brush the shape of the small gold ring hanging from the chain around her neck underneath her shirt for a second before pulling her hand away and back into her pocket. It isn't even an option.

Peyton snaps out of her state to quickly realise the Doctor is no longer in sight. She looks back and forth to see Clara peering at something on a stall nearby.

"Doctor?" Peyton calls out, catching Clara's attention.

"Where's he gone?" Clara asks, jogging back over to her. "He hasn't wandered off, has he?"

"He does that," Peyton grumbles starting to walk through the crowds again. "Stay close to me until we find him again."

"So," Clara says, lengthening the vowel as she skips a few steps to catch up to Peyton. "What is it with you and the Doctor, are you two-"

"No, no, no, no, no, God, no," Peyton shakes her head, her face scrunching up in disgust. "He's, I'm, he's like my... We're just friends."

"Okay, yes, dropping it," Clara puts her hands up in surrender. She doesn't speak up again for a while as they both look around at all the lovely sights. "So, you two are aliens, are you from one of these planets?"

"I'm from London," Peyton says flatly, really hoping this isn't going to turn into an interrogation. "It's a long story, I don't really want to get into it right now."

"Well, if you're from London you can't be a thousand years old. I thought you were an alien," Clara notes with a quizzical expression.

"I'm a hundred and two last time I checked, and being born on Earth doesn't mean I'm human," Peyton answers flatly, still keeping an eye out for the Doctor. "I was born on Earth, my father came from the same planet the Doctor does. I met him a couple of years ago and later me and some friends of mine started travelling with him. Does that satisfy you?" Peyton stops in her tracks and turns to Clara with an unamused expression.

"Yep," Clara says quickly, picking up on Peyton's irritation.

"Right," Peyton softens her expression slightly, catching herself being unreasonable. "Stay here while I look for the Doctor. Don't wander off. We have a rule about wandering off."

Clara nods as Peyton looks up to the brightly coloured stall beside them to commit it to her memory before walking back down the path they came.

As she's walking she spots a small child clad in red robes running toward her. She frowns but the child doesn't stop, sprinting past her and disappearing into the crowd behind her.

Peyton shrugs and continues on her way. There's all manner of people here for the festival, one or two of them acting weird isn't too worrying.

Peyton weaves in between the crowds bustling through the maze of market stalls, peering through the alleyways and over the heads of passerby's.

"Ah hah! Sorry chaps, there was no way you could have beaten me anyway. Checkers master they call me, no they don't. They should though."

Peyton hears him before her eyes land on him. She follows the sound of his voice until she spots his purple coat swishing buoyantly away from a very shady looking checker game.

"Doctor!" She calls out as she jogs to catch him.

"Ah, Peyton, I just won this for you," he turns around smiling, tossing up a small object in a high arc for Peyton to catch. His eyes seem to search around her as well. "Where's Clara?"

"She's fine," Peyton assures him, looking at the small item in her hands. It is weighty for its size and as she peers at it, she realises its a small platinum Swiss Army knife, along its side, an array of planets are etched into the metal.

"I won that against some very lovely fellas. It's got twenty-eight different functions and is a stylish accessory," he says, very proud of himself.

"My sonic pen can do all of this, and more," Peyton scoffs, flicking the knife open in several places to reveal a vegetable peeler, a laser pointer, a tiny camera, and a USB."

"Well, it, it's, you know," the Doctor splutters. "It just looked cool!"

"Thank you, Doctor," she rolls her eyes, letting the edges of her lips curl up as she tucks it in her pocket. "I'm only teasing, I love it."

The Doctor's face relaxes before spinning on his heel and offering a hand to Peyton to take as they wander through the markets.

"So do you know where Clara got to?" He asks.

"Don't worry, I told her to stay put until I found you," Peyton replies.

"She's not a dog, Peyton," the Doctor says, looking down at her disapprovingly.

"Yeah? And I'm not her babysitter," Peyton huffs. "Don't go waltzing off and leaving me to take care of her."

"Peyton," the Doctor stops, dropping her hand. "I thought you were cool with her coming along. Why don't you like her?"

"I like her fine," Peyton lies. "She just asks too many questions."

"Ha!" The Doctor exclaims sarcastically starting to walk again. "Now you know how I feel, when you and I started travelling I could never catch a break from the questions. Once you get to know her you'll get along great."

"Whatever you say, Doctor." Down here," Peyton tugs the Doctor's sleeve to pull him down an alley where she came to find him. "Down here."

The two travellers turn one more corner before Peyton is rooted to the spot, staring ahead at the brightly coloured stall where there is a notable absence of the brunette Londoner.

"Well," Peyton sighs, folding her arms. "You certainly have a type."

"What? What do you mean?" The Doctor says, quite flustered.

"The wandering off," Peyton gestures to the stall. "Ugh." She walks up to the stall and the alien behind it, assuming that the Tardis' translation matrix is still reaching this far. "Hi, did you see where the women here went, about yay high, brown hair?"

The creature only grunts in reply and points down the street.

"Like you can talk," the Doctor scoffs playfully, reappearing at her side.

"Hmm?" She starts off in the direction that the salesperson pointed.

"Peyton and wandering off? A match made in heaven!" The Doctor teases.

"Shut up."

• • •

"There, that's her," Peyton grabs the Doctor by the shoulder to get his attention and he turns around from the stall owner he is talking to and looks in the direction that Peyton's point. Good timing too, Peyton was beginning to worry that they'd miss the big show.

"Ah, yes. Thank you," he nods to the stall keeper and heads of in Clara's direction.

"Ah, there you two are!" She beams at the two time travellers walking her way.

"You wandered off," Peyton reminds her.

She shrugs with an innocent smile.

"What have you been up to?" The Doctor asks.

"Exploring," she answers.

The Doctor pulls one of the bright blue fruits they saw earlier out of her pocket and begins to stroll off in the direction of a sign pointing to the amphitheatre, Peyton eagerly trots begins.

"Where are we going now?" Clara calls after them.

• • •

"So sorry," Peyton whispers to the alien beside her as she squeezes beside the Doctor into a seat at the amphitheatre with the same heart-stopping view as she remembered from her last visit.

"Are we even supposed to be here?" Clara asks in a hushed tone.

"Shh," the Doctor hushes her.

"But are we?"

"Shh," Peyton leans past the Doctor, pressing a finger to her lips at her.

The Queen of Years, just a young girl really, steps up to her podium at the cliff edge hesitantly. On her last visit, the Queen was middle-aged.

The little girl turns her head back and seems to look directly at Clara, causing Peyton to flick her eyes toward the Doctor's newest companion who appears to be giving the Queen a gesture of encouragement.

With a deep breath, she begins to sing out into the stars, her voice so startlingly sweet, it fills Peyton's chest and sends goosebumps down her arms.

"They're singing to the mummy in the Temple," the Doctor explains to Clara, pulling out a small piece of paper and Amy's reading glasses. "They call it the Old God. Sometimes Grandfather.

"What are they singing?" She asks.

"The Long Song," the Doctor answers. "A lullaby without end. To feed the Old God. Keep him asleep."

"It's been going for millions of years," Peyton adds. "Chorister handing over to chorister. Generation after generation. Never pausing."

All around the time travellers, onlookers raise up their hands to the sky, outstretching small items, personal treasures out toward the god.

"What are they doing?" Clara asks, fascinated.

"Those are offering. Gifts of value," the Doctor says. "Momentos to feed the Old God."

All around them, the trinkets fade into golden dust, rising and dancing through the air.

As the crowd lower their arms, they join in the singing with the Queen and her choristers.

"Lay down," the crowd sings. "My warrior."

Peyton joins in with a soft hum, not confident enough in the words to open her mouth but none the less, enjoying the spectacle.

The Doctor nudges Peyton's shoulder as he starts to sway side to side in time with the music, bringing a light smile to her face before she joins in, letting the beautiful music wash over her body.

But abruptly, the young Queen stops singing, choking on her words.

Concerning whispers erupt throughout the crowd as she turns to look back at Clara with an incredibly frightened expression.

Peyton looks back and forth across the crowd, this didn't happen last time they came here.

In a blink of an eye, a golden beam of light engulfs the Queen of Years, seemingly coming from the pyramid across the asteroid belt. She is lifted up in the air with a shriek, arms and legs flailing wildly.

"Okay. What's happened? Is this supposed to happen?" Clara asks, her voice on edge.

"Help!" The Queen cries.

"Decidedly not," Peyton mutters.

"Is somebody gonna do something?"

The Doctor makes eye contact with Peyton and she already can tell what he is thinking.

Together, they leap out of their seats and rush back through the market.

"Hey! Hey!" Clara calls after them. "Why are we walking away? We can't just walk away. This is my fault. I talked her into doing this."

"Listen," the Doctor says stopping abruptly and turning to walk back to Clara, forcing Peyton to stop as well. "There's one thing you need to know about travelling with us. Well, one thing apart from the blue box and the two hearts. We don't walk away."

Clara nods and the Doctor pats her on the shoulder before turning to catch back up to Peyton and continue their walk through the market to find their new friend Dor'een.

After a few twists and turns, Peyton spots the alien they're searching for ahead and the Doctor barks out to her.

She barks back as the three of them reach her stall and the Doctor turns to Clara and Peyton, patting himself down.

"I need something precious," he says.

"Well, you must have something. All the places you've seen. There must be something," Clara frowns, looking between the Doctor and Dor'een.

Peyton's hand comes up to grasp the gold ring hanging from her neck. She knows this is important but she can't just give away her mother's ring. Is it that important?

The Doctor pulls out his sonic. "This. And I don't want to give it away because it comes in handy."

"You're a thousand years old. And that's it, your spanned?" Clara raises an eyebrow.

"Screwdriver."

"Peyton?" Clara turns to her.

She quickly removes her hand from her necklace and tries to form a hasty excuse but nothing comes out of her mouth, opening and closing like an idiot.

Clara looks down at her hand and starts twisting a ring on her finger. "It's my mum's."

A wave of guilt washes over Peyton. That's the same reason that she doesn't want to give her own piece up. She bites back this feeling when she selfishly remembers that Clara actually got to grow up with her mother, she never knew hers. She knows it's selfish, but it keeps her silent.

With a brave sigh, Clara twists the dulcet ring off her finger and holds it out to the shop keeper who takes it and measures it with both her hands.

She seems to be satisfied as she steps aside and lets the three travellers step through to her moped.

• • •

Peyton holds tight to the Doctor's waist as they speed through the asteroid belt toward the pyramid. She briefly wonders what atmosphere they are possibly breathing as the Doctor dodges small asteroids and space debris. But the physics of it all doesn't really matter as Clara's iron-clad grip around her own waist makes it hard to breathe anyway.

Peering over the Doctor's shoulder, Peyton sees the Queen struggling not too far ahead of them as they continue to gain speed. Her arms flail out, stretching toward the moped.

Clara's weight shifts behind Peyton and her hands come to grip her shoulders instead as she tries to stand. She takes one hand off her and reaches up toward the queen, leaving the hand that still holds Peyton's shoulder to become excruciatingly tight.

"Merry!" Clara yells as her fingertips connect with the young queen's but the light wrenches her away and down into the pyramid temple which is now a lot closer than Peyton realised.

"Doctor!" Peyton shouts. "Brakes, now!"

The moped shudders and the three travellers scream as they come dangerously close to the pyramid. With a great jolt, the craft hits the ground and skids before tipping over, throwing its passengers off and onto the dusty floor with a thud.

Clara pants as her arms grasp Peyton around the shoulders and neck, not letting her go.

"Okay, time to let go," Peyton struggles.

"I can't."

"Clara, you have to."

"Why?"

"Because it really hurts!"

"Sorry."

As Clara releases Peyton, she draws in a long breath, rubbing at her throat with her hand.

The Doctor leaps off the floor and runs straight to the large stone door or the temple, scanning it with his screwdriver as Peyton moves to sit up against the moped.

Clara, who has also gotten to her feet, extends a hand out to Peyton to help her up. The blonde woman looks at her hand hesitantly for a second before slowly grasping her hand and allowing her to help her up.

"Oh, that's interesting," the Doctor says as he inspects the readings from his sonic. "A frequency-modulated acoustic lock."

"A what?" Peyton frowns, pulling out her own sonic pen and twisting it between her fingers as she and Clara walk up to the Doctor.

"The key changes ten million, zillion, squillion times a second," he elaborates, tossing his screwdriver in the air.

"Can we open it?" Peyton asks.

"Technically, no. In reality, also no. But still, let's give it a stab," he says optimistically, tapping his sonic against Peyton's before running full force into the door.

A little shriek escapes Clara's mouth but Peyton simply folds her arms, unimpressed.

The Doctor grumbles as he rubs his shoulder before smacking the door with the palm of his hand.

"How can they just stand there and watch?" Clara grouses, looking back over her shoulder to the asteroid they had watched the ceremony on.

"Because this is sacred ground," the Doctor explains.

"And she's a child."

"Yeah? And he's a god. Well, he is to them, anyway," Peyton sighs, watching the Doctor continue to pound and smack the door.

Clara mumbles something Peyton doesn't quite catch as a high pitched scream rings out from inside the temple.

"Merry! Merry, hold on!" Clara yells, running up to the door beside the Doctor while he prods it with the green light of his screwdriver. "We'll be there soon!"

"Doctor, can you open it?" Peyton says, urgency in her tone.

"Hold on. Yes. Yes, yes yes. Oh! Hello!"

"Hello, what?" Clara looks up at him.

"The sonic's locked on to the acoustic tumblers," he says, pointing it at Peyton's sonic in her hand, sending her the information.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning," Peyton steps forward, gently grabbing ahold of Clara's bicep to move her away from the door so she can take her place. "We get to do this."

With a double-handed grip, both Time Lords point their sonic devices at the door which slowly begins to slide upward with the loud sound of stone scraping against stone.

Peyton grits her teeth and her arms begin to shake under the immense weight of it. It was as if they were holding the door open themselves.

Soon, the temple inside is revealed, look queen looks back at the intruders, her eyes blown wide open in fright. Behind her, on a raised floor platform sits a glass box with a rather ugly looking corpse sitting upon a throne inside. Peyton supposed that this is their so-called 'god'.

On the floor by the Queen is another figure, dressed in the red robes of the royal choristers, still chanting persistently on his knees.

"Hello there," the Doctor calls. "I'm the Doctor, this is Peyton. You've met Clara, she was supposed to be having a nice day out. Still, it's early yet."

The Doctor brings his hands down from holding up the doorway but it seems it doesn't wish to be held open as it immediately starts its descent towards the heads of the time travellers, and causing Peyton's knees to buckle before the Doctor reassumes his position.

"So are you coming them?" Peyton asks the Queen, her whole body feeling the weight of door greatly. The Queen shakes her head very slightly, still terrified. "Did I mention that this door is immensely heavy?"

"Leave, you'll wake him!" She yells before looking back to the corpse.

"Really quite extraordinarily heavy," the Doctor adds.

Peyton's arms give out, forcing the Doctor to drop to one knee to keep the door above their heads. She quickly rejoins him, however, her jaw clenched shut and shoulders aching.

"Clara," the Doctor nods toward the Queen.

"Uh-huh," she nods before ducking to enter the temple.

Over the sound over her own pulse in her head and the sound of the Doctor grunting next to her, she can only catch snippets of the conversation.

"If you don't leave, he'll eat you all up too," Queen Merry insists quite loudly.

"Yes, and you don't want that, do you? You want us to walk out of this really quite astonishingly heavy door and never come back," the Doctor calls out.

"Yes," Merry agrees.

"I see. Right, Clara's right. Absolutely never going to happen," the Doctor nods. "Peyton?"

"What?" She huffs, focusing all her strength on this door.

"Count of three," he says.

"Huh?" She falters, letting the door drop for a second before she resumes her position.

"Roll out, don't get squished," he says through pants.

"You have got to be joking," she strains.

"One."

"No, Doctor."

"Two."

"I hate you."

"Three."

Peyton throws herself into the room, rolling onto the polished stone floor. Breathing heavily as she comes to a stop, her eyes closed and body limp.

Suddenly, she is scooped up to her feet as the Doctor grabs her underneath her shoulders. She tucks her sonic away, stretching her arms out when she spots Clara across the room by the glass prison, staring at them with a deadpan expression.

"Did you just lock us in?" She asks.

"Yep," the Doctor says, fixing his hair.

"With the soul-eating monster."

"Yep," he adjusts his bow tie.

"And is there actually a way to get out?"

"What before it eats our souls?" The Doctor asks, walking up to her.

"Ideally, yeah."

Peyton just now notices how rigidly she is standing, he back almost pressed up against the glass. As she looks closely, following the Doctor. She can see the purple energy, wrapping itself around her wrists and ankles, keeping her bound still.

She wasn't expecting that,

"Possibly. Probably. There usually seems to be," he assures her.

"Doctor, Peyton... why is he still singing."

Peyton looks down to the floor beside her where the chorister gently rocks himself back and forth as he dutifully keeps singing.

"He's trying to sing the Old God back to sleep," the Doctor says as Peyton crouches down next to him and watches as his tear-filled eyes look up at her, still singing.

"I'm sorry," Peyton rests a hand on his shoulder. "He's waking up, there's nothing you can do."

He freezes, bottom lip trembling, his brown eyes staring into hers.

"That's it then?" she says. "Songs over?"

"The song is over," the chorister echoes before getting to his feet, Peyton rises with him.

"My name is Chorister Rezh Baphix," he says, lowering his hood before stepping away from the intruders. "And the Long Song ended with me."

He touches a gold bracelet on his wrist and disappears into a flash of light.

"That's it, then!" The Doctor pulls his sonic out. "Song's over!"

He points it toward the alien corpse who roars in response. Merry dashes behind Peyton and the Doctor while Clara stays rooted to the spot. Peyton thinks to herself that she should probably do something about that.

"Ha-ha!" The Doctor cheers. "Look at that."

"You've woken him!" The Queen of Years shouts.

"It's awake?" Clara asks in a frightened high pitched tone. "What's it doing."

The creature roars again before slamming its hand into the glass beside her.

Peyton nods to herself, retrieving her sonic before running up to her and scanning whatever is holding her down.

"Oh you know," the Doctor says, strolling around the box. "Having a nice stretch. No, we didn't wake him, and you didn't wake him, either," he points to Merry, "He's waking because it's his time to wake. And feed. On you, apparently. On your stories."

"She didn't say stories, she said souls," Clara says anxiously through gritted teeth, turning her head very slightly to the corpse pounding against the back of her head.

"Same thing," Peyton says, running her sonic along Clara's arm. It seems to just be your basic residual psychic energy. It just needs dissipating. "Our bodies are made of atoms, but our souls are made of stories."

"Everything that ever happened to us," the Doctor continues. "People we love, people we lost. People we found again against all the odds." Peyton looks up at him out the corner of her eye to see him looking at Clara's face closely before continuing. "He threatens to wake, they offer him a pure soul. The soul of the Queen of Years."

"Stop it," Clara interrupts as her hands become free of their invisible restraints. "You're scaring her."

"Good. She should be scared! She's sacrificing herself. She would know what that means," the Doctor says.

"Doctor, we can't let her," Peyton insists, straightening up just as she is about to crouch down and release Clara's feet.

"Do you know what that means, Merry?" The Doctor ignores them, walking toward the little girl.

"A god chose me," she answers bravely.

"It's not a god," the Doctor shakes his head. "It'll feed on your souls but that does not make it a god. It is a vampire. And you don't need to give yourself to it."

"Peyton?" Clara whispers as the creature grows more and more restless behind her.

"Right, yeah, on it," she says, crouching down again to work on her restraints.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Clara asks softly.

Peyton throws a glance over her shoulder to the Doctor and Merry. "Oh, he's probably just giving her a few words of encouragement," she replies, using her sonic pen to disperse all the psychic energy around her. "Giving her courage, giving her hope."

"Is this what you two do? Racing around the universe, saving people?"

"Oh no," Peyton shakes her head, looking up to her and pausing for a second. "Not every day. This is just a Tuesday."

She smiles at that, momentarily distracting her from the monster behind her before Peyton gets back to work.

"There is only one Merry Gajelh," the Doctor says loudly. "Getting rid of that existence isn't a sacrifice. It is a waste."

Peyton quickly stands to her feet and pulls Clara away from the glass and down the steps from the platform, keeping a hold on her shoulders to steady her.

"Thanks," she nods.

"Don't mention it," Peyton turns away from her to the Doctor.

"So, if I don't, then everyone else..."

"Will be fine," the Doctor assures her.

"How?" She jumps as the creature lets out another defeating roar.

"There is always a way."

"You promise?"

Peyton places a hand on Merry's shoulder from behind her, she looks up at her.

"Of course," she says to the young queen.

The Doctor smiles before crossing both his hearts. Peyton does the same.

"Cross our hearts."

Both Peyton and the Doctor offer a hand to her which she takes gratefully.

With another roar and the sound of its first against its prison, the sound of the thick glass cracking sends a shiver down Peyton's spine.

"Let's go," Clara says as she joins them. No one has a complaint so they all dash toward the exit before a deep rumbling comes from within the pyramid.

The floor trembles, stopping them in their tracks. They look back to the Old God who seems to be just as concerned as they are. What scares a god?

"Somethings coming, something big," Peyton says, feeling Merry's grip tighten on her hand. "What could possibly be coming?"

"The vigil," Merry squeaks.

"And what's the vigil?" The Doctor asks as the creature returns to banging on the glass.

"If the Queen of years is unwilling to be feasted upon..."

"Yes?"

"It's their job to feed her to feed her to Grandfather."

With a cloud of dark energy, three figures appear in the middle of the room, wearing black cloaks with faces like masks, just a grate for a mouth and goggle-like eyes.

The Doctor drops Merry's hand and rushes forward with his screwdriver held at the ready.

I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Merry shrieks. As they march their way.

"Don't you dare," Clara grabs Merry's other hand and standing protectively in front of her with Peyton.

"Yeah, stay back. I'm armed," the Doctor warns. "With a screwdriver."

The first figure leans forward and growls at him, sending a blast of invisible energy toward him, knocking the sonic clean out of his hand.

Each of the figures leans forward now and growls at the three adults, sending energy through the air toward them.

Peyton is lifted off her feet as she is thrown backward, her back hitting the stone wall before she slides down it onto the floor with a groan.

Peyton tries to forces her eyes open until she sees the blurry image of Merry being led back toward the Old God by the figures.

"Peyton," the Doctor croaks, lying flat on his back a few feet away. "Sonic!"

Peyton shakes her head, blinking away her grogginess before pulling her sonic pen out of her pocket and tossing it toward the Doctor who catches it in mid-air before trolling over and pointing it at the figures, sending out some sort of pulse toward them.

They definitely do not like that as the three of them turn and raise their arms to send blue energy toward their attacker toward the Doctor but the Doctor changes the setting of the sonic and blocks their blasts like a sheild.

Merry runs out from behind them and into Clara's arms as the Doctor gets to his feet, continuing to hold the priests off.

Peyton herself jumps up, spotting the Doctor's sonic on the floor and grabbing it before standing at his side and joining him in protecting the Queen.

Like the door, the force of their attack becomes increasingly strong, forcing Peyton to bring another arm up to hold the sonic.

"You know all the stories," Clara says to Merry. "You must know if there's another way out."

"There's a tale, a secret song," she admits. "The thief of the Temple and the Nimmer's Door."

"And the secret songs opens the secret door? How does it go? Can you sing it?"

Peyton stumbles backward a little as Merry starts to sing, bracing her legs against the attack.

On the other side of the room, another stone door slides upwards, travelling a secret passage.

"Go, go, go!" Peyton yells back to them, still focused on the matter at hand.

She watches them race out of the temple while the priests remain interested in her and the Doctor.

"Go with them," the Doctor says.

"What? No. They'll be fine," Peyton argues. "I'm standing with you, like old times."

"Nope, I'll be fine," he counters. "Take them back to the city, then you can come back for me, got it?"

"Fine, try not to get killed," she concedes. "And don't hog all the fun either."

"Promise," he says. "Now, swap sonics and go."

He tosses her sonic pen up in the air, lowering their defences for a second before Peyton thrusts his screwdriver into his hand and catches her pen.

The Doctor hastily throws the sonic shield back up again as Peyton turns to dash out the secret passage and find Clara and the Queen.

The passageway seemed to just be one hallway, opening up jest beside where they had landed, where she can see Merry and Clara standing by the moped anxiously.

"Where's the Doctor?" Clara asks as Peyton grabs the moped by the handles and throws a leg over the seat.

"He's a big kid, he can handle himself," Peyton presses the large button on the console and the vehicle tumbled to life.

"But we can't just leave him."

"He'll be fine," Peyton turns her head to glare up at her. "You two, bike, now!"

Clara doesn't argue any more, helping Merry climb onto the bike behind Peyton before sitting herself behind her.

Peyton feels Merry's small hands ball up in the back of her jacket before she steps on the accelerator and pulls hard on the handlebars to head back to the planet.

• • •

A thunderous roar from behind the pyramid startled everyone in the amphitheatre.

Peyton turns to see that it's not the old temple, it's the giant red star around it, shifting and morphing until a face can be seen in the clouds of dust and fire.

She feels Merry reach for her hand again and Peyton gets a sinking feeling that the angry corpse was not the god they were looking for.

She feels her sonic pen buzz in her pocket so she pulls it out to see that the Doctor has sent her a message.

"Is that the Doctor?" Clara asks. "What's going on, is he okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Peyton lies. "He seems to have come to the same conclusion as I just did. That _that_ is Grandfather, the fellow in the prison and his cronies were just a wake-up call."

"Well, we have to go and help him," Clara says, turning from Peyton to climb back onto the moped.

"Nope, absolutely not," Peyton refuses, grabbing a hold of the handlebars and staring down Clara.

"But what about what you two said earlier, we don't walk away!"

"The Doctor will have a plan, he always does." This is also a lie, but a hopeful one. "But right now, he entrusted me to keep you and her Highness safe, so get off the moped and wait! If I don't get any word from him in five minutes, I'm going back there, alone."

"Peyton, I'm not made of sugar I want to help, I want to be useful!" She protests.

"And you've been plenty helpful," Peyton admits, rolling her eyes. "But you really need to let myself and the Doctor handle this. "The Doctor's spent enough time trying to find you again to just have you sacrifice yourself for this."

Clara frowns quizzically, Peyton mentally kicks herself for saying that but as Clara opens her mouth, the sun roars again, shaking the ground with its sheer force.

"I want to help," Merry says, dropping Peyton's hand and staring defiantly at the sun.

"Yes, brilliant," Peyton realises as the young Queen steps forward toward her podium. The lullaby.

She watches as the Queen starts the song, her voice ringing out across the quiet stars. It only takes a moment for everyone in the amphitheatre joins in with her in a choir of souls singing out for the Doctor.

Peyton opens her mouth and joins in with the crowd, singing the Old Song.

In the distance the god begins to shrink, folding in on itself, whatever the Doctor's doing must be working. What could he be doing? The song closes and Peyton smiles, turning back to Clara, now standing beside the vehicle, with a smug expression of 'see?'. But Clara's face drops as another deep rumbling shakes the ground beneath their feet.

Peyton swings her head back around to see the sun expanding back out again, darker than before. Oh, God.

The roar of an engine starting up behind her startles Peyton. She turns to Clara who is seated on the moped, knuckles gripping the handlebars and looking up to her expectantly.

"Coming?" She asks.

"I am, you aren't," Peytongrabs her arm and tries to rip it away from the handlebars. "Stay here, go back to the Tardis even."

"No, I'm standing with you and the Doctor," Clara insists. "I can help. What are you even going to do?"

"What are you going to do?!"

"I have an idea," Clara pats her hand over the shoulder bag with a confident smile.

Peyton's nose scrunches in frustration but she doesn't have the time to argue. For all she knows, the Doctor could be dying.

"If you get yourself killed, I'm going to murder you," Peyton growls as she throws a leg over the seat behind Clara, grabbing a hold of her shoulders. "Now, go!"

• • •

Peyton stands by the Doctor, letting him lean his weight on her, still weak from whatever ordeal he went through alone on this rock.

She looks at Clara, bewildered as the last fragments of the fragile leaf disappear from her hand into the air.

The Old God implodes on itself. A parasite, not a deity.

She looks back to Peyton and the Doctor with a smile that says even she can't quite believe she just did that.

"Thank you," Peyton says. "That was... good."

Clara clutches her book of 101 Places to Go to her heart with a sarcastic grin. "I'm honoured, I never expected such words of praise from you."

"Ha, ha!" The Doctor cheers, rubbing his knuckles into Peyton's scalp, causing her to help and push him away before hastily combing through her hair with her fingers. "She'll get there one day."

Peyton grumbles while Clara and the Doctor laugh.

• • •

"You were there," Clara says softly from the doorway, looking back into the Tardis and toward the Doctor. "At mum's grave. You were watching. What were you doing there?"

The Doctor struggles for a second, leaning against the console and not looking her in the eye as Peyton watches from the far side of the controls.

"I don't know. I was just..." he pauses. "Making sure."

"Of what?"

The Doctor walks toward her slowly. "You remind me of someone."

"Who?"

"Someone who died."

"Well, whoever she was, I'm not her, okay?" Clara says. "If you want me to travel with you, with you both, that's fine. But as me. Not a bargain basement stand-in for someone else. I'm not going to compete with a ghost.

The Doctor shakes his head. "No."

He pulls something out of his pocket and presents it to her. "They wanted you to have it."

It's her mother's ring. Clara had been talking to Merry while Peyton and the Doctor had been given the ring she had given up to save the Queen by the people of Akhaten.

"Who did?"

"Everyone," Peyton says, pretending to be interested in the controls. "Everyone... you saved."

"You, no one else," the Doctor says.

"Well, I helped a little bit," Peyton jokes.

"Clara Oswald."

With one last grateful smile, Clara steps out of the Tardis, leaving the two Time Lords alone in the box.


	40. The Day They Meet an Ice Warrior

"And what's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Peyton frowns, gesturing to herself in a sweeping motion.

Both the Doctor and Clara say nothing except tilt their heads to the side with bemused frowns.

"We're going to Vegas," Clara says finally. "And you're wearing a shirt and jeans."

"These are my best jeans," Peyton reasons. "No stains, food _or_ alien, on them at all. Doctor, tell her; we don't do 'dressing up'."

"What's the harm?" The Doctor asks, walking over to Peyton and wrapping an arm around her shoulders and gesturing to Clara. "She looks lovely."

Clara does a little curtesy in her vintage silver knee-length dress.

"Says you," Peyton shoves him away from her lightly. "You wear the same outfit every day."

The Doctor pulls a face of mock offence.

"Come on, Peyton," Clara says grabbing her hand. "Let me pick something out for you. The wardrobe here is like nothing I've ever seen before."

Peyton looks back to the Doctor as she is dragged down the stairs with a pleading expression but he just sends her a goofy smile and a double thumbs up.

• • •

"So the dress is a hard no?" Clara asks again.

"Where am I supposed to put my stuff?" Peyton calls back through the curtain as she pulls the suit vest on.

"We were blessed with cleavage for a reason," Clara replies in a sing-song voice.

Peyton sighs and looks herself in the mirror one last time before tearing the curtain back.

"Ooh, very nice," Clara says, liking her up and down as she reclines on the chaise.

"I look like _him_ , in a 1950s mob boss kind of way. Or a waiter," she complains. She turns to the full-length mirror, adjusting the bow tie that sits around her neck. The vest, a grey, glen plaid material, cut in an overlapping vintage style overlays the white shirt with golden cuff links with Gallifreyan writing on them.

"I like it," she jumps to her feet and circles her. "I don't understand why you don't do this more."

"Hey, I've saved whole worlds wearing a hoodie," Peyton complains, straightening out, unable to wait to be finished so she no longer has to be alone with the insufferable chatterbox. "And it just feels like playing dress-ups. I was never into dress-ups as a kid."

"Really?" Clara stands back with her hands on her hips. "Do Time Lord children not have time for silly games?"

"Me and my _human_ friends," Peyton shoots an annoyed look her way before reaching up to pull her hair into a low knot. "Were more the rough and tumble type when we were young. I think I was the most 'girly' out of all of us. Until we grew up that is."

"Well, that's hard to picture," Clara laughs. "I'd love to meet them someday."

Peyton's hands fall from her hair and she freezes in the mirror. The wound still feels as fresh as the day it happened.

"Oh, and I found this," Clara says, breaking the silence. Peyton looks over to her to see the brunette with a regretful expression standing quite awkwardly, able to tell she had struck a nerve.

She stretches a hand out toward Peyton to reveal a gold hairpin with something a circular Gallifreyan design along it. It pairs beautifully with her cuff links.

"Thanks," she mumbles as she pins it into her bun.

• • •

"Viva Las Vegas!" The Doctor yells as he swings the Tardis door open.

A sudden jolt sends all three of them tumbling out and against something hard. And wet. In fact, Peyton is soaked within seconds.

There are voices shouting, light flashing and after a second Peyton realises that this is definitely not Vegas. They're on the bridge of some sort of ship.

"Who the hell are you?" One man screams at them.

"Not Vegas then?" Clara yells, grabbing a hold of a handlebar.

"No. No, this is much better!" The Doctor replies ecstatically.

"A sinking submarine?" Peyton asks, yelling over the noise.

"A sinking _Soviet_ submarine!"

"Break our sidearms! Restrain them!" Another officer yells.

"410, 420! Turbines still not responding!" A young man seated at the controls reports.

"They've got to!" The first officer replies.

"Sideways momentum!" The Doctor yells, pulling out his sonic and scanning the controls, pulling his wet hair out of his eyes. "You've still got sideways momentum!"

"What?" The man shouts. Now, Peyton is not an expert on soviet army uniforms, but the amount of badges and gold accents on this man's jacket suggests he is probably the man in charge. In charge of the sinking submarine.

"Your propellers work independently of the main turbines. You can't stop her doing down but with can manoeuvre the sun laterally!" The Doctor explains. "Do it!"

"Get these people off the bridge now!" Another officer orders.

"Just do as he says, for God's sake!" Peyton cries. "We're trying to save your lives!"

"Geographical anomaly to starboard!" The Doctor detects as two officers grab his arms. "Probably an underwater ridge!"

"How do you know this?!" The Captain demands. An officer grabs Peyton by the arm and she struggles against him while trying not to lose her footing.

"Look, we have just a chance to stop the descent if we settle on it," the Doctor explains. "Do it!"

"Six hundred meters, sir. Six, ten!"

"This thing is going to implode!" Peyton yells. Making up for her lack of knowledge of 20th-century navel uniforms, she is an expert on physics and if they dive too much further, the pressure is going to kill them all.

"Lateral thrust to starboard, all propellers!" The Captain orders.

"Sit?"

"Now!"

"You're going to let these mad people give us orders?" Another officer argues.

"Lateral thrust!"

"Aye, sir!"

With a great crash, everyone is thrown to the floor and into the couple inches of freezing water sitting lapping at the walls as the submarine makes contact with the rocky formation.

Peyton drags herself up by the controls as the ship groans and creaks, the alarms still blaring but at least all the shouting has stopped.

She makes eye contact with the Doctor as they both pant. He puts his sunglasses back on.

• • •

"It seems we owe you our lives," the Captain says after everyone had gotten to their feet and secured all the ship's systems. "Whoever you are."

"We'll hold you to that. Might come in handy," the Doctor nods, still wearing those stupid glasses.

"Search them." This guy seems to be second in charge, the one who kept questioning them while they were saving his life. Peyton likes him significantly less than the grateful Captain.

"Yes, I know," he continues. "Two women, even if one is wearing men's clothes. Now, search them!"

Peyton is grabbed by the shoulders and slammed against a pole, shoulder to shoulder with the Doctor and Clara on either side as an officer unbuttons her vest and dives his hands into her pockets.

"Are we going to be okay?" Clara asks.

"Oh yes," the Doctor assures her.

"Is that a lie?"

"Possibly."

"We're in quite a dangerous time," Peyton elaborates, frowning in frustration as a man pulls her sonic pen from her pocket. "The East and West standing on the brink of nuclear oblivion. Lots of itchy fingers on buttons."

"Isn't it always like that?" Clara points out.

"Sort of," the Doctor adds. "But there are flashpoints and this is one of them. Hair, shoulder pads, nukes. It's the eighties; everything's bigger!"

Peyton turns her head to the Doctor to see a man take his sonic screwdriver from him. "I would like a receipt, please."

"What is this?" The captain asks, picking it up and inspecting it.

But before the Doctor can answer another bang goes off, sending the crew into panic as the ship moves around them.

It's the sound of the Tardis engines whirring that stops Peyton's hearts.

"No, no, no, no, no. Not now!" The Doctor cries as they watch his ship disappear.

"Oh, shit," Peyton murmurs under her breath.

• • •

"We will wait till the rescue ship comes!" Captain Zhukov says, staring down the two conscious intruders on his bridge.

"If it comes!" The Doctor stresses.

"Oh, this sinking is just a coincidence, is it? Who are you?"

Peyton jumps back as the Captain grabs the Doctor by the lapels and slams him against a wall.

"All right, Captain, all right," the Doctor tried to calm him down. "You know what? Just this once, no dissembling, no psychic paper, no pretending to be an Earth Ambassador. Doctor, me, Peyton, and Clara, time travellers. Clara, are you okay?"

Peyton turns to see Clara standing just behind her.

"Yeah, I think so," she replies sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with her hand. It's then that she notices the jacket, given to her while she was unconscious by a sympathetic Soviet.

Clara looks up to Peyton with a confused frown, clearly just catching up to what was happening. With a sigh, Peyton nods toward the Doctor, still pinned to the wall.

"Time travellers?" The Captain doubts.

"We arrived out of thin air! You saw it happen!"

"I didn't."

Peyton looks across the room to the only man not in a soaked navy uniform. He's older than many of the other gentlemen and introduced himself as Professor Grisenko. He was not on the bridge for the accident, rather down in his laboratory.

"Your problem, mate, not ours," Peyton counters.

"We were sinking..." Clara pipes up.

"Yes?" The Doctor raises an eyebrow in her direction.

"What happened?"

"We sank," Peyton answers, folding her arms and still staring ahead at the Doctor.

"No, what happened to the Tardis, I mean?"

"Never mind that," the Doctor brushes her off before Peyton can get a word in. "Listen, Captain. Breath's precious down here. Let's not waste it, eh?"

"You're right," he says, his grip still firmly on the Doctor's coat. "Maybe I can save a little oxygen by having the tree of you shot?"

"What does it matter how we arrived?" Peyton steps forward but an officer is quick to grab her by the arm. "The important thing is to get..."

Peyton suddenly stops talking as a low watery growl echoes through the ship, sending a chill down Peyton's spine.

"... out," she whispers, her eyes going wide as they land on the shadowy figure behind the Doctor and Zhukov. Easily seven-foot, the thing is enormous and what appears to me armour covers its whole body, making it appear even bigger.

"Exactly!" The Doctor agrees, clearly not reading the room. "Number one priority, not suffocating!"

The Captain must see it too, as he starts backing away from the Doctor.

"Ah, oh, thank you!" The Doctor, still clueless, beans. "Finally, seeing sense! Now, what sort of state is the sub in?"

He steps away from the wall, adjusting his jacket until he stands directly in front of the figure.

"Doctor!" Clara calls out to him, stepping closer to Peyton.

"What about the radio? Can we send a-"

"Doctor!" Peyton shouts urgently, staring adamantly behind his head.

"What?" The Doctor yells back impatiently.

The thing hisses, it could almost be mistaken for the ship moving under pressure or perhaps...

"What is that? Gas?" The Doctor frowns. "Could be gas."

The idiot finally notices every pair of eyes in the room looking behind him and stiffens up. He turns slowly by his shoulder until he is staring up into its face. There is silence in the submarine, only the slow dripping of water and the soft movement of it against the walls and around their feet.

"Ah," he gasps in a rather happily surprised tone. "It never rains but it pours."

"We were drilling for oil in the ice," the old man says. "I thought I'd found a mammoth."

"It's not a mammoth," the Doctor says.

Peyton steps forward toward the Doctor. The creature doesn't seem to have any intention on harming anyone so what could be the harm? As she walks forward, the creatures face comes into light.

"What is it, then?" Clara asks, wading through the water toward the Doctor as well.

"It's an Ice Warrior," Peyton gasps. She had never seen one in person before, only in the Tardis databases and books.

"And an Ice Warrior is?"

"A native of the planet Mars," the Doctor explains. "And we go way back. Way back."

"A Martian?" The Captain chides. "You can't be serious."

"I'm always serious," the Doctor says. "With days off."

"Doctor!" Clara glares at him.

"Just keeping it light, Clara, they're scared."

"They're scared? I'm scared!"

The sound of a gun cocking behind Peyton's head aggravates the Ice Warrior, causing him to raise his gun arm defensively.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor jumps into action to calm the Ice Warrior. Peyton turns around, holding her hands out toward the soldier pointing his pistol at the alien. "Please, please. Wait! Just, there is no need for this! Just hear me out. You're confused, disorientated, of course, you are. You've been lying dormant in the ice for, for how long? How long, Professor?"

"Uh, by my reckoning, five thousand years," he says.

The man with his weapon raised has his eyes fixed on the alien rather than her so Peyton takes this opportunity for quick thinking and grabs his wrist, pulling the gun from his hand. He glares at her, making a move to restrain her but before he can, she drops it from her hand into the foot of water. Better luck next time. He fumes silently, seething at her actions. She replies with an innocent smile.

The Ice Warrior however

"Five thousand years?" The Doctor looks up the creature. "That's a hell of a nap. Can't blame you if you've got out of the wrong side of bed. Nobody here wants to hurt you. Please, just, why don't you tell us your name?"

"What are you talking about? It has a name?" Captain Zhukov falters.

"Of course it has a name," the Doctor snaps. "And a rank. This is a soldier. And it deserves our respect."

"This is madness!" The Captain shouts. "That is a monster!"

"Skaldak."

The creature's voice is deep and gravely, cutting through the room like a blade.

"What did you say?" The Doctor asks cautiously after a few seconds had passed.

"I am Grand Marshal Slakdak."

The Doctor freezes, never a good sign. Just as Peyton is about to step forward to ask what's wrong, Skaldak seizes up, shaking violently as the crackle of electricity brightens the room.

"You idiot!" The Doctor roars seconds before the warrior falls onto its side in the water, revealing the second in command officer holding a cattle prod behind him. "You... idiot."

"Grand Marshal Skaldak," Peyton recalls. "Who is he?"

"Sovereign of the Thatsisian caste, vanquisher of the Phobos Heresy. The greatest hero the proud Martian race has ever produced."

"So what do we do now?" Clara asks timidly.

"Lock... him... up!"

• • •

"An Ice Warrior? Explain," the Captain demands, leaning back in the chair in his office.

"There isn't time," Peyton stresses. That enraged killing machine is going to wake up any minute now and they're still no closer to getting off this submarine.

"Try me," he insists. His Lieutenant, Stepashin, casts a concerned glance toward him.

"Martian reptile, known as the Ice Warrior," the Doctor explains. "When Mars turned cold, they had to adapt. They're bio-mechanoid, cyborgs. Built themselves survival armour so they could exist in the freezing cold of their homeworld, but a sudden increase in temperature and the armour goes haywire."

"Like with the cattle prod thing?" Clara notes.

"Like that cattle prod thing," the Doctor echoes in affirmation. "But of a design flaw, I always wondered why they never sorted it. Oh look, you've got me telling you about them and I said there wasn't time!"

"The Ice Warriors are a reasonable species," Peyton says, turning to the Doctor. "We can reason with him, apologise, explain."

"He's a warrior, and he's just been insulted, that's an act of war in his eyes. There's no telling what he'll do," the Doctor sighs.

"Why are we listening to this nonsense, Captain?" Stepashin scoffs. "These people are clearly enemy agents."

"Hmm?" Clara frowns.

"Spies, Captain."

"Pretty bad spies, mate. I don't even speak Russian!" Clara shrugs.

Peyton sighs, looking up to the leaky ceiling. They did not have time for this.

"What?" The lieutenant snaps her way.

"I don't..." Clara doesn't get to the end of her sentence before turning her head slightly to the Doctor. "Am I speaking Russian? How come I'm speaking Russian?"

"Now? We have to do this now?" The Doctor whispers back, smiling uncomfortably as the Lieutenant makes his way over.

"Are they speaking Russian?"

"Seriously? Now?"

With a scowl, Stepashin turns away and back to his Captain.

"It's the Tardis translation matrix," the Doctor answers quietly.

"In my opinion, Comrade Captain, this creature is a Western weapon," Stepashin cuts through their conversation.

"So they're speaking Russian?" Clara reiterates.

"Yes! They're Russians!" Peyton glares, leaning forward past the Doctor. "Did you seriously think all those aliens we met speak English? Try as we might, we can't colonise every civilisation."

Before Clara can retort, she is distracted by the conversation in front of them.

"A weapon?" The Captain raises an eyebrow.

"Survival suit. What is the alternative? The little green man from Mars?"

"Correction," the professor interrupts, removing his headphones and joining the conversation. "It's a big green man from Mars."

"I don't appreciate your levity, Professor," the Lieutenant growls.

"Why does that not surprise me?" He chuckles. "Maybe they're telling the truth."

"The truth?" He turns to him.

"Yes. A revolutionary concept, I know." Peyton decides that she likes this man. Smart, witty, Clearly not a fan of violence or the Lieutenant.

"It's essential that we inform Moscow of what we have found!" The Lieutenant insists,

"The radio's our of action, in case you hadn't noticed, Stepashin," Captain Zhukov replies.

"They have our last position. They will find us. When they do..."

"Yes," says the Captain, impatiently.

"Well, the Cold War won't stay cold forever, Captain."

"For God's sake, Stepashin, you're like a stuck record! We have other priorities right now."

So it seems like no one seems to enjoy the Lieutenant's company.

As Stepashin turns to leave he sends a scalding stare toward Peyton and the Doctor who both stand a little straighter to return a look of discontent.

"I want you back on repairs immediately," the Captain continues. "We need to keep this ship alive. Dismissed."

"Sir?" He frowns.

The Captain stands to his feet, meeting his lieutenant, centimetres from his face. "Dismissed, Stepashin!"

He storms off in a huff, mindful to pointedly barge past Clara's shoulder on his way out.

• • •

Clara clears her throat, warning the attention of all eyes in the room. "Well, there really is only one choice, isn't there?" She shrugs. "I don't smell of anything... to my knowledge."

"You? No!" The Doctor refuses. "No! No way. You're not going in there alone, Clara."

"Yeah, absolutely not," Peyton says, stepping forward. "Anyway, I'm going."

"Not happening!" The Doctor shakes his head.

"Pardon?" Peyton tilts her head, squinting at him. "Doctor, I'm the only option we've got. Any battle you've dragged my into you haven't let me fight. You can't just let me not go down there!"

"Skaldak is an extremely dangerous warrior, I'm not risking it!" The Doctor turns away from her.

She fumes, about to open her mouth to haul a string of insults at him, she feels a hand touch her arm.

"We go together," Clara suggests, looking up at Peyton and then to the Doctor who slowly turns back to them. "We'll go together, be each other's back up."

Peyton glances toward Clara's hand on her arm and then to the Doctor, who seeks to be searching for any retort to deny them doing this but Peyton knows that face. That face means she's won. Or maybe, this time, that Clara's won.

• • •

Clara pulls open the hatch to the torpedo room where the mighty Ice Warrior is being held before looking back to Peyton anxiously.

Peyton nods slightly and Clara ducks into the room quietly. The blonde girl readjusts her headset on her shoulders before ducking in after her and pulling the hatch closed behind them.

Skaldak doesn't move as the two time travellers inch toward him.

A light flickers to life in Peyton's peripheral as Clara picks up a lamp and switches it on, looking back into the corner of the room to a small security camera.

"Ready, Peyton?" The Doctor's voice crackles quietly out of the headphones around her neck. She nods in response, stepping into the light where she knows the Doctor will see her. "You know what to say. You can do this. But I'll be right here if you forget anything."

"Right," Peyton says, taking a steadying breath as she looks up to the creatures face. "Grand Marshal Skaldak." She places a fist over her heart in a salute. "Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste. By the moons, we honour thee."

She looks across to Clara, whose brown eyes are blown open on her pale face, she nudges her lightly with her elbow and makes a fist. Clara quickly salutes him too.

"Grand Marshal, we're sorry for what happened. It was a gross injustice, not what you deserve. The humans are just a fledgling race, terrified children running across a planet. They mean you no ill-respect, and nor do I."

The light in Clara's hand dies with a shudder. The two look at each other in the dark, unsure of what just happened as the red light of a backup generator covers them.

Peyton feels Clara step closer to her, her warm breath tickling the back of her neck.

"Are you okay?" The Doctor asks, his voice barely audible. Peyton doesn't answer but powers on, fishing a flashlight out of the pocket of her jacket and shining it at the Grand Marshal.

"You're a long way from home. Five thousand years adrift in time. Please, let us help you. You're not our enemy."

"And yet... I am in chains," Skaldak's deep and harsh voice sends shivers down Peyton's spine, but that also may just be Clara's breathing.

"You're restrained until we can trust each other, Skaldak," Peyton says with as much authority she can muster. "You would do exactly the same in our position. And don't even think about using that sonic weapon. Not in here. It's a bit touchy."

"I was Fleet Commander of the Nix Tharsis," Skaldak says. "My daughter stood by me... it was her first taste of action. We sang the songs of the Old Times. The Songs of the Red Snow. Five thousand years. Now my daughter will be... dust! Only dust!"

"No, no, no, listen. Your people live on, Skaldak! Scattered all across the universe. And Mars will rise again, I promise you. Just let us help you." The Doctor calls through the headset.

The Ice Warrior lets out what must be its version of a sarcastic chuckle. "And so the puppet master speaks. Sending children in your place? Cowardice."

"We're no children," Clara retorts. Peyton sends her a scalding glance to tell her to shut her mouth but is ignored. "And listen to him, we can help you. We want to help you!"

"I require no help," he growls. "There will be no help!"

Peyton steps forward, holding her hands up, trying her best to convey that they aren't a threat.

"Careful, Peyton," the Doctor warns.

"I'm fine," she says back through gritted teeth.

"No, listen, Peyton, Clara, don't get too close."

"We're okay," she reiterates. Peering up at the Ice Warrior, a strange sensation gnaws at her gut. "Actually, I think something's wrong."

"What?"

Peyton reaches up, extending her fingers toward its helmet. "Somethings..." before she can finish. The suit's hinges swing back, revealing an empty cavity where a head should be.

She jumps back, almost dropping the torch. She grabs Clara's wrist in an iron-clad grip and pulls her behind herself.

"It's not there, it's gone!" Clara gasps.

"Yes, I can see that," Peyton says as her breathing quickens, her head spinning left and right.

With a mechanical grinding, the Ice Warrior suit's chest cavity swings open against the chains to reveal its empty innards.

"Gone? Gone?" The Doctor shouts through the headphones. "Gone, what do you mean gone?"

"It's got out!" Peyton hisses.

"It's time I learned the measure of my enemies." Both girls jump into the centre of the room, Peyton pulling Clara behind her as Skaldak's gravelly voice eminates from the shadows. "And what this vessel is capable of."

"No, no, no, Skaldak!" Peyton, unsure of where he is, the dim torchlight and red glow of the generator aren't much help.

"Harm one of us, and you harm us all! By the Moons, this I swear!"

"Peyton, Clara! Get out of there!" The Doctor orders. "Get out!"

The hissing and growling of the Ice Warrior echoes around the room, making it impossible to tell what direction it is coming from. Peyton's torchlight falls on the hatch they enteres through and without a second thought tugs Clara along as she dashed toward it.

• • •

Peyton leans against a wall, panting heavily as the Doctor preens over Clara. Skaldak, it must have been Skaldak had escaped out of the hatch before they could make it through, he could be anywhere now. But selfishly, Peyton was more concerned about the giggling Clara in the Doctor's arms.

"Doctor, The signal's stopped," the Professor says, finally tearing the Doctor away from his precious Clara.

Peyton glares at her but she doesn't see it.

The Doctor leans toward the Professor and lifts his headphones or his ears. He must not hear anything g because as he straightens up, his dark expression takes a hold of both Peyton's hearts.

"Skaldak got no answer from his Martian brothers," he says, starting to pace up and down the hallway. "Now he's given up hope."

"Hope of what?" Captain Zhukov asks.

"Being rescued," Peyton shrugs. "He thinks he's been abandoned."

The Doctor sighs. "He's got nothing left to lose."

"We need to get to the others," Peyton says, wiping water and hair from her face. "Skaldak could be anywhere and if we're all separated across the ship, who knows what he'll do."

The Doctor nods and without vocal agreement, begins to lead the group down the corridor.

"But what can he do?" The Captain speaks up. "He's stuck down here like the rest of us. How bad can it be."

The Doctor stops in his tracks. "This sub's stuffed with nuclear missiles, Zhukov," he turns and matches up to him. "It's fat with them! What do you think Skaldak's going to do when he finds that out? 'How bad can it be? How bad can it be?'"

"It couldn't be any worse," Peyton says, rubbing the back of her neck. No Tardis, no sonics, soaked through to her knickers and a vengeful killer on the loose.

With a great bang, the submarine rumbles, a flood of water cascades through the corridor, knocking everyone off their feet, clinging to anything to keep them upright.

Peyton spits and wipes the back of her hand across her mouth as she steadies herself, the water having risen from their shins to their knees. "Sorry," she apologises. "Spoke too soon."

• • •

"Comrades, you know our situation," the Captain addresses his crew, stoically with his hands clasped behind his back. They had made their way back to the bridge, where thankfully the water was slightly shallower and much of the crew is still here. A few unaccounted for, including Lieutenant Stepashin. They didn't dare use the internal comms to contact the other men, not when it could jeopardise their location. "The reactor is drowned, we are totally reliant on battery power and our air is running out. Rescue is unlikely but we still have a mission to fulfil. If the Doctor and Miss Barrett are right then we are all that stands between this creature and the destruction of the world. Control of one missile is all he needs. We are expendable, comrades. Our world is not. I know I can rely on every one of you to do his duty without fail. That is all."

The soldiers nod before scattering to stations both around the bridge and beyond it. The Doctor throws himself toward one of the computers and Clara plops herself down in one of the seats next to him, sitting backwards and watching the others on the bridge get to work.

As Peyton sits in the chair beside her, she frowns to herself, looking at the half-foot of water on the floor and realising that their sonics must be around here somewhere. Well, it won't be much help if Skaldak gets a hold of a bomb anyway.

"Even if a missive did get launched, that wouldn't be... it, would it?" Clara asks, leaning on the back of the chair, looking down at her fingers as she fiddles with the rings on them.

"It?" The Doctor stops working for a moment to frown at her.

"End of the world," she clarifies, looking back at home "Game over. I mean, what if they fired one by accident, what would happen then?"

"We told you, Clara. Earth is like a storm waiting to break, right now. Both sides baring their teeth, talking up to war," the Doctor explains. "It would only take one tiny spark."

"Yeah but the world didn't end in 1983, did it?" Clara reasons. "Or I wouldn't be here."

"History isn't a straight and narrow as you might think," Peyton offers an explanation. "It's in flux, some of it can be changed. Re-written. So, yes, it is entirely possible that before the day is out that the world will end and you and I are never born at all."

She delivers the last line with a fabricated cheeriness that causes Clara's blood to drain from her face. That almost makes her day better.

"Peyton," the Doctor warns without looking away from the computer screen. "Optimism, please."

"I was being very optimistic," she grumbles, swinging her chair around in a huff. "I said by the end of the day."

"But that won't happen, right?" Clara asks timidly. "You'll both think of a plan... yeah?"

Peyton and the Doctor catch each other's eye behind Clara for a second before looking away.

Behind them, the Captain has begun to delegate weapons to several men who seem to be heading out of the bridge. Peyton feels a sick feeling in her gut. She saw how fast that thing moved. They are going to be taken out faster than they can pray for any hope.

"Peyton, would you mind?" The Doctor asks. "I might be onto something."

She nods silently before pushing herself out of her chair and walking over to Captain Zhukov.

"How many of us are left?" She asks.

"Twelve, ma'am, and we can't find Stepashin."

"Worrying, but did anyone really like him anyway?" Peyton jests. The Captain sends her a scathing glare so she quickly changes the subject. "I suggest we split up and comb the sub. One team stays here to guard the bridge."

"That's it? That's your plan?" He frowns.

"Well, it's either that or we stay here and wait for him to kill us. Got any better ideas, _Captain_?" She challenges him with a stern face. She doesn't miss how he looks over her shoulder toward the Doctor. "He's not my superior. Time travellers, remember, where we're from we don't differentiate authority based on genitalia."

The Captain seems stunned, as if not sure how to reply to this drenched blonde woman, several inches shorter than him and appearing decades younger in age. "Okay," he says finally. He moves to step away but at the last second turns back to look at her with a peculiar expression. "You remind me much of my wife."

"Then you're a very lucky man," Peyton nods, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking back on her heels.

The Captain offers a small smile before turning to lead his men.

"Being the boss suits you," Clara muses as she appears by Peyton's shoulder.

"I am the boss," she replies confidently, straightening her bow tie.

"Is it true that you've never seen one outside of its shell suit?" She asks.

"For an Ice Warrior to leave its armour is the gravest dishonour. I've only met the Ice Warriors once before but the Doctor has had plenty of run-ins with them. If the Doctor's scared, there's probably a sound reason to be. Skaldak is desperate, he is deadly and we have got to find him."

"Will this help?"

Peyton turns to see the Professor holding up the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

"Ah! You saved it!" The Doctor shouts as he jumps up from his chair to snatch it out of his hands.

"No, no, it was on the floor with these," the Professor says, holding up a small peg doll, a silicone straw, and Peyton's sonic pen.

"Oh, thank you," Peyton beams as she rushes forward, plucking the pen from his hand.

"Ah!" The Doctor grabs the doll and kisses its head. "Ah, Professor, I could kiss you!"

"If you insist," he sighs dejectedly.

The Doctor frowns. "Later."

• • •

Peyton glares at the Doctor as he struggles with the fuse box looking control panel in the corridor that he has just triggered the alarm for.

She shoves him aside as she pokes her sonic pen into the mess of wires, trying to get the right calibration to turn the infernal thing off.

Further down the corridor, Clara and the Professor are talking quietly, something about Polar Bears from what she can hear over the alarm.

The damn thing stops blaring at them and the Doctor wrenches open a small round porthole beside it, leaning in and investigating with his sonic.

All around them the ship groans terrible, like a sound low and gutters line would expect from the mouth of an enormous beast.

"What was that?" Clara squeaks as the Doctor slowly backs out of the hole.

"Pressure. Just pressure," he says, pushing wet hair from his face. and even Peyton's not sure if he's lying or not. "We're seven hundred meters down, remember?"

"Don't worry about it. Think of something else," Grisenko tells her before starting to hum the beginning of a song that Peyton definitely recognises but can't put her finger on.

"I'm not singing!" She insists.

"Don't you know it?"

"Course I know it," she says confidently. "We do it at karaoke. The odd hen night."

"Karaoke? Hen night? You speak excellent Russian, my dear, but sometimes I don't understand a word any of you are talking about."

Clara chuckles but her face twists as a loud scream rings through the ship. The four look at one another before Peyton and the Doctor spring away.

• • •

"Not savage, Professor," Peyton corrects as she stares down, horrified, at the scattered limbs and shredders clothing belonging to two of the shipmen. "Forensic. These are precise incisions. He's dismantled them, Skaldak's learning how Humans work."

"Your strengths," the Doctor adds in a low tone, pulling out his sonic. "Your weaknesses.... come on."

• • •

Having left Grisenko and Clara behind, the Doctor and Peyton race through the ship, following signals from their sonic devices, trying to lock onto Skaldak's position.

As they're running down a corridor on one of the upper floors where there's no water covering their ankles, Peyton spots a dark lump in the shadows.

"Doctor!" She grabs his sleeve and pulls them both to a halt.

Upon an instant visual inspection, Peyton groans. It's Stepashin, dead in the floor, pistol by his unmoving hand. "Nine left."

"At least we'll save oxygen," he says as he picks up the Lieutenant's ID and looking down at the picture of a beautiful young woman in there.

"Doctor," she scalds, horrified.

"We can't focus on the negative, that's how we lose hope," the Doctor says, getting to his feet and throwing down the ID.

"Three men, that we are aware of, have died," she hisses.

A loud metal rattling above their heads puts an end to their argument.

Peyton sends a silent look to the Doctor. "He's not..."

The Doctor turns and pulls out his sonic, pointing it at the walls and roof as they both run back down the corridor. "Fast, he's fast," he pants as they come to a stop.

• • •

Gunshots down an adjacent corridor change Peyton and the Doctor's course to follow the sound.

As soon as they duck into it, they spy Clara and the Professor down the other end, right where they had left them.

As they near the two, thing sally arms extend from the ceiling and long green fingers place themselves on either side of Grisenko's head.

"No, please, don't hurt him. Please!" Clara pleads as Peyton and the Doctor skid to a halt behind her.

"You attacked me!" Skaldak growls. Peyton can't see his face behind the pipes and wires that run along the ceiling. "Martian law decrees that the people of this planet are forfeit. I know have all the information I require. It will take only one missile to begin the process to end this... Cold War."

The Professor grimaces under the Ice Warriors fingers dig into his face.

"Grand Marshal, there is no need for this. Listen to me..." the Doctor tries.

"My distress call has not been answered. It will never be answered. My people are dead. They are dust. There is nothing left for me except my revenge!" Skaldak roars.

The submarine rumbles. Pressure, just pressure, Peyton tells herself.

"There is something left for you, Skaldak," she fills her voice with as much confidence as she can. "Mercy."

"Mercy?" It mocks.

"It must wear that armour for a reason, my friends," the Captain says, accompanied by his shotgun cocking. "Let's find out, shall me?"

"No, Captain, wait!" The Doctor yells, rushing forward and pushing the gun to the floor.

"I will do whatever it takes to defend my world, Doctor," he shouts.

"Yes, brilliant," Peyton says sarcastically. "But we're getting somewhere here. Put the gun down! Not great for negotiations."

"Jaw-jaw not war-war," the Doctor quotes.

"Churchill?" The professor croaks.

"Churchill," the Doctor nods.

"Very well," the Captain agrees. "We'll negotiate, but from a position of strength."

"Excellent tactical thinking," Skaldak says as the Captain raises his weapon. "My congratulations, Captain."

"Thank you," Zhukov snaps back.

"But unfortunately, your position is not, perhaps, as strong as you might hope."

"What do you mean?" The Doctor asks quietly but the only answer they receive is a loud metallic clunk, followed by another, then another.

Skaldak releases the Professor and scampers away through the water and smoke until Peyton can see it further down the hall, chest cavity hanging open against the chains.

"He summoned the armour," she shudders.

"How did it do that?" Clara asks, her voice raising an octave.

"Sonic tech, Clara. The Song of the Ice Warrior," the Doctor says.

A soldier barges past them, gun raised and firing relentlessly as the suit closed around its host. But the bullets do little but bounce off the armour.

"My world is dead," Skaldak says, marching away as the Doctor pulls the rogue soldier back by his collar. "But now there will be a second red planet! Red with the blood of humanity!"

"Skaldak! Skaldak, wait!" The Doctor yells, running after him. Peyton takes no time to wipe the water and hair from her face and power after him with the Captain.

Gunshots echo around the ship as Skaldak keeps out of their reach until Peyton recognises the course they're taking leads them back to the bridge.

"No! Skaldak! Wait! Wait! Wait!" Both Peyton and the Doctor scream as they tumble into the bridge, the IceWarrior standing by the controls.

"He's arming the warheads!" The Captain says, raising his gun.

"Where is the honour in condemning billions of innocents to death?" The Doctor asks. "Five thousand years ago Mars was the centre of a vast empire. The jewel of this solar system. The people of Earth have only just begun to leave their caves. Five thousand years isn't such a long time, they're still just frightened children. Still primitive. Who are you to judge them?"

Skaldak steps back from the computers and turns to the Doctor, looking down at him. "I am Skaldak! This planet is forfeit under Martian law."

"Then teach them! Teach them, Grand Marshal!" Peyton pleads. "Show humanity another way! Show them there is honour in mercy!"

"Is this how you want history to remember you?" The Doctor protests. "Grand Marshal Skaldak, Destroyer of Earth? Because that's what you'll be if you send those missiles. Not a soldier... a murderer."

Skaldak scoffs and turns away.

"Five billion lives you're throwing away!" Peyton accuses, her voice straining with urgency as Skaldak reaches for the button that will end humanity. "No chance for goodbyes. A world snuffed out like a candle flame!"

"Alright, alright Skaldak," the Doctor roars. "You leave me no choice. We're Time Lords, Skaldak. We know a thing about sonic technology ourselves!"

He raises his screwdriver as Skaldak lowers his arm and turn to them. Peyton reaches for her own sonic and points it at him dangerously, trying to convey authority in her stance.

"A threat?" He growls. "You threaten me?"

"No. No, not you..." the Doctor says darkly. "All of us."

Peyton's eyes widen and she looks toward the Doctor but he continues staring ahead at the Ice Warrior.

"I will blow this sub up before you can even reach that button, Grand Marshal. Blow us all to oblivion!"

"You would sacrifice yourself?"

"Yes, we would," Peyton regains her stony face, adjusting her grip on her wet sonic. "For them, in a heartbeat."

Peyton sees the Doctor look over her out of the corner of her eye but she continues staring up at Skaldak.

"You are a blabbering child," Skaldak counters. "You have not seen battle, you don't have what it takes?"

"As I said before," Peyton deadpans, moving her sonic in her grip so it points upward rather than at the Ice Warrior. "I'm not a child. I'm the Time Lord's apprentice. And I stand by him, Skaldak, are you willing to bet I won't do it?"

The tip of her pen lights up blue as she locks onto the weapons system of the sub. She hears the Doctor beside her activate his screwdriver.

"Mutually assured destruction," Skaldak fumes, turning back to the controls and holding his hand out toward the middle launch button.

"Look into my eye, Skaldak. Look into my eyes and tell me you're capable of doing this," the Peyton roars over the sound of the ship moving, water sloshing and dripping, a tingle of excited adrenaline tingling down her spine. "Can you do that? _Dare_ you do that?! Look into my eyes, Skaldak, come on! Face-to-face."

With a loud stomp, the Ice Warrior turns again to stare down Peyton. She holds herself as best she can but her hand by her side begins to tremble. She shoves it begins her back to hide it.

"Well, Apprentice..." Skaldak's helmet releases, swinging back to reveal the Ice Warriors face. It's glowing red eyes shine out from its hardened and cracked face. Sharp teeth are bared toward the girl before him. "Which of us shall blink first?"

Peyton holds her breath, staring defiantly up at the Martian. She can't lose. If they're going to die, it will be on her terms.

"Why did you hesitate?" Clara calls out. "Back there, in the dark."

Skaldak frowns, looks across at her, Peyton doesn't dare turn her head away though.

"You were going to kill this man, remember? I begged you not to and you listened. Why show compassion then, Skaldak, and not now?"

Skaldak growls.

"They're right. Billions will die," she continues. "Mothers, sons, fathers... daughters. Remember that last battle, Skaldak? Your daughter... you sand the songs..."

"Of the Red Snows," he says as Clara wades her way through the water closer to them.

A great crashing sends everyone scattering, Peyton tries her hardest to steady herself and keep her sonic locked on. She grabs the Doctor's forearm who in turn reaches for a bar by the computers.

"What's happening?" Clara yells.

"My people live, they have come for me!" Skaldak says as the ship steadies, still rumbling. They must be caught in a tractor beam.

"We're rising!" The Captain says, shocked. Peyton looks over to him where he stands, watching the dials on the controls move backward. "We're rising!"

"Six hundred meters," the Professor says. "Five, fifty!"

A torturous minute goes by, with Grisenko reading out their depth every few seconds, slowly and slowly rising.

With another great rumble, they stop.

"We've surfaced, your people have saved us," the Doctor says.

"Saved me, not you," he retorts.

"Just go, Skaldak, please," the Doctor reasons. "Please... go in peace."

Before the Grand Marshal can answer, a beam of red light encircle him and he disappears before their eyes.

"Why did it! We did it!" Clara gasps.

"Not yet," Peyton runs toward the bank of controls. "No! It's still armed. A single pulse from that ship..."

She looks up to the doctor whose sonic still glows, just like hers.

"We'll destroy us if we have to," she says bravely.

The Doctor's face is unreadable as he slips a hand through hers. "We'll destroy us if we have to," he echoes.

They both look up to the red light on the controls, angry and pulsing, and threatening the end of their lives.

"Show mercy, Skaldak," the Doctor mutters "Come on, show mercy."

With a loud click, the light is extinguished. The keyholes snap upward again and a loud bang from somewhere above their heads tells them that the missile bays have snapped closed.

Peyton almost drops her sonic in relief, leaning forward on the controls and panting heavily. She feels a hand fall on her back, rubbing large circles into it.

"Now we're safe."

Peyton straightens up and tucks her sonic pen away. She looks up at the Doctor who seems to just be bursting with pride, his closed mouth smiling so wide and deep crows feet tug at the corners of his eyes. 

Without warning, she is attacked by Clara who throws her hands around her neck her shorter body hanging off her shoulders.

Peyton smiles uncomfortably as Clara lets go, looking back up at her pleased and impressed.

She clears her throat, looking. Between Peyton and the Doctor. "Saved the world, then?"

"Yeah," Peyton breaks into a smile, she can't help it. It's the nerves.

"That's what we do," the Doctor says, placing a hand on Peyton's shoulder, beaming proudly at his apprentice.


	41. In The Tardis #7

"Are you coming?" Peyton asks when the Tardis comes to a halt.

"Uh, no. Sorry," the Doctor can't manage to meet her eye, very clearly pretending to be engrossed in the mechanism behind a lever. "Give me a minute. Just if, you know, Clara comes down, I can tell her where we've got to."

Peyton nods, knowing he's lying, before picking up the bouquet of flowers from the grey seat by the side controls.

The walk to the door seems to take longer than usual, her stomach plummets further with each stride before her hand reaches up to push the doors open.

The brisk New York air sends shivers down Peyton's spine. Perhaps not because of its temperature, but rather the memory of the last time she visited the old cemetery in Manhatten.

With a sweeping gaze across the the dark headstones, her eyes land on the etched writing of a small and unassuming grave. She walks toward it slowly, her eyes fixed on the writing, now nearly eighty years old.

_IN LOVING MEMORY_

_RORY ARTHUR WILLIAMS_   
_AGED 82_

_AND HIS LOVING WIFE_

_AMELIA JESSICA WILLIAMS_   
_AGED 87_

By the time Peyton reaches it, a tidal wave of outrage forms in her chest. Such a simple marker for the lives of to of the least simple people she ever knew. Amy and Rory saved whole civilisations, they stopped the world ending uncountable times. Fighting Daleks and Cybermen, Silents and pirates. They deserve a monument to their achievements and efforts.

She sighs, dropping to her knees beside the grave, overgrown with grass and dirt. No amount of anger will get them justice, the people of earth will never remember the two brave souls that fought for their lives.

Peyton leans the bouquet against the headstone and pushes herself back, sitting in the grass.

"Hey," she mumbles, feeling a little silly talking to a grave. "It's been a while."

The only reply she gets is the rumbling of Manhatten traffic and intermittent chirping of songbirds overhead in the trees that shade the dead and their mourners.

"I met your son," she says, leaning back on her palms and looking up into the sky, speckled with ivory clouds. "I'm flattered, by the way, now that I also have a Pond kid named after me. About time."

Peyton tries to laugh but as the tears well up in her eyes, forcing her to bit her lip to contain the sob that threatens to break free.

"I miss you guys so much," she manages, her voice high pitched and quivering. "We were supposed to be together forever, saving people and planets across the universe. You were supposed to be my best man and maid of honour at my wedding if I ever get around to one of those. We should have grown old together. Which, by the way, I can do. Apparently, when we're constantly exposed to the time vortex, Gallifreyans don't age. That explains why the Doctor looks like a twelve-year-old all the time." She pauses again, staring at the old stone. Weathered and unassuming, a small hairline crack runs down the right side of it. "I just want to know if its ever going to stop hurting. Every day, it hurts so bad. Like a piece of me was left behind with you two."

"From my experience, no, it doesn't," Peyton looks over her shoulder to see the Doctor walking up to her, his head bowed and hands shoved in his trouser pockets. He sits himself down beside Peyton, staring at the grave and propping his head up on his clasped hands beneath his chin. "But hurting isn't a bad thing, hurting means you're alive."

"Sure," Peyton sighs halfheartedly.

"The pain of those we loose gives us something to fight for," the Doctor continues. "To remind us of how precious life is and for us to fight even harder for those we still have close to us."

Peyton leans her head onto the Doctor's shoulder without a word and lifts a hand to her collarbone to fiddle with the thin chain that hangs there.

"I always hate endings," he says. "But an ending is just another word for a new beginning."

"Is that why you never go back?" Peyton asks. "There are so many people who you've travelled with who are still alive and you never see them."

"I couldn't see Amy and Rory because of the tempo-"

"Not just Amy and Rory," Peyton interrupts him. "U.N.I.T has files on everyone who has travelled with you. So many are out there right now, living perfectly ordinary lives. You've never once gone back to visit them?"

"I did once, just before my face changed the last time," the Doctor says softly. "I went and saw everyone I could. I was very sentimental back then. I can't bear to look back for too long. The life I lead Peyton, the life you're choosing to lead if you're going to stay with me, is one of so much pain and loss."

"Is that why you didn't come back for me until you found _her_?" Peyton asks dryly. "Do I remind you of them?"

"Peyton, my Peyton," he presses a kiss into her hair. "You deserve so much better than me. I could never leave you behind. You're my greatest mystery and best friend."

"Well, you've got a new mystery now," Peyton pushes herself up from the ground and turns away from the Doctor. "One that will keep coming back each time she gets herself killed."

"Peyton, that's not at all what she is," he scrambles to his feet. "I know you don't like her very much but please, for me. Don't talk like that."

"Fact of the matter is that for twelve hundred years, you've been replacing little human after little human to fill some void in your life. Well, I'm sorry, Doctor. I don't work like that," she spits back, still looking away from him, hiding the tears that are threatening to spill past her eyes.

"Can we not do this here?" The Doctor asks weakly. "Not in front of them."

Peyton looks toward the gravestone and exhales heavily. "I'm sorry."

"I know."

"But I'm not like you, I need... I need more time."

"I know. And I never want you to be like me. I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Peyton doesn't meet his eye again, sending a longing glance down at the headstone and the flowers that lay against it one more time before walking back to the Tardis.


	42. The Day they Went Ghost Hunting

"I'm in the mood for pasta," Peyton announces as she marches into the console room. She grabs the staircase railing to jump up to the flight deck. "Lunch date with Michelangelo?"

"That sounds amazing!" The Doctor agrees. He's lounging in the chair by the controls with his buried in some dusty book, Amy's reading glasses perched upon his nose. He snaps it shut. "I'll put it on the list."

"The list?" Peyton falters, staring at him from across the controls.

"Yes, sorry," he says, jumping to his feet. "Something's just occurred to me. I can't believe I hadn't thought of it before." The Doctor begins flipping switches in preparation for the Tardis to fly.

Peyton folds her arms across her chest. "Let me guess. This is about-"

"Clara obviously can't remember her other selves, so maybe a powerful empath and can sense something in her, tell us anything!"

"Awesome," Peyton deadpans, reaching for the navigation plotters. "Got any particular psychic in mind?"

"We have to pick up Clara first," the Doctor exasperates, batting her away from the controls to set them himself.

Peyton rolls her eyes and storms away from the central console, throwing herself down in the leather chair as passive-aggressively as she can.

In the past two months since the Doctor invited Clara aboard the time machine, Peyton can barely have an adventure anymore without it somehow being related to the 'impossible girl', even when she's not even there!

"What?" The Doctor sighs as the Tardis lands.

"I didn't say anything."

"Aren't you curious to know who she is, what she is?" The Doctor says tiredly, leaning forward onto the console to look across at her.

"Yeah, I guess," she shrugs. "But I have hobbies, other things going on."

"I don't understand why you aren't at least trying to get along with her," the Doctor chides. "What is it about her that gets you so... so... teenager-ish."

"I am not a teenager," Peyton glares.

"By Time Lord reckoning, yes, you are."

"It's not my fault," Peyton says tartly, getting to her feet. "She is just so... so... chatty, and asking questions, and undeservedly confident in situations where she has no clue what is happening. She's got those huge puppy dog eyes that just rip into your soul, and she's so happy-go-lucky. It's unbearable."

The Doctor smiles smugly.

"What?" She sighs shortly. He just continues smiling like that. "What?!"

"That is exactly how I would describe you your first few years travelling with me," he says in a tone that suggests he thinks that this is the funniest thing he's heard. "You don't get along with her, because she reminds you of yourself."

"She is nothing like me," Peyton insists but the treacherous voice in the back of her head insists that he has a point.

"Oh, grow up," the Doctor spins away from her and walks around the console.

"No," Peyton objects sharply, following him. "I have been through so much compared to her tiny life. We are not the same. She hasn't lost anything like I have!"

"She lost her mother," the Doctor stops and faces her again.

"So did River!" Peyton screams in his face.

The creak of the Tardis door opening causes the two Time Lords to freeze, turning their heads to the entryway where Clara pops her head inside, smiling eagerly.

The Doctor and Peyton both straighten up, backs to the console and facing their guest. Thank God this thing is soundproof.

"Good morning, Clara," the Doctor chirps. He elbows Peyton in the ribs harshly.

"Morning," she forces a smile.

"You two are acting weird," Clara furrows her eyebrows as she pushes the doors shut.

"We're centuries-old aliens who live in a Police Box," the Doctor counters.

She considers this for a moment. "Where are we off to today?"

"Well, Clara," the Doctor says, twirling around the console. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

Peyton doesn't bother to voice her confusion, she simply turns away from Clara and joins the Doctor in preparing the Tardis for flight.

"Well, I'll give anything the benefit of the doubt nowadays," she replies, bouncing over to the console.

"Good, because there is a lovely old haunted house and a spooky tale I'd love to check out."

"Wait, so are ghosts actually real?"

"Well, let's find out," he smirks, pulling the lever to send the Tardis into the vortex.

• • •

"No, no, no," the Doctor whispers, pushing the two girls away from the door before using the knocker again.

Peyton rolls her eyes and looks off into the night. It really is a beautiful estate, too bad this ghost story has turned it into disrepair.

The heavy wooden door creaks open and the Doctor jumps forward. "Boo!" He shouts.

Whoever answered the door gasps in fright.

"Hello, we're looking for a ghost," the Doctor says as Peyton steps up to his side.

"And you are?" The man at the door frowns. A woman stands a little further behind him.

Peyton feels Clara join them, pushing her self in between her and the Doctor. "Ghostbusters!"

The man clearly doesn't get the reference, about ten years too early. "I'll ask you again, who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor says, brandishing his psychic paper.

"Doctor what?"

"If you like. And this is Clara and Peyton," he points to his companions in turn before stepping inside.

Peyton quickly pushes past Clara to follow him, not wanting to stay out in the chilly air for too long anyway.

"Ah!" The Doctor squeals before running off into a room off the foyer. "But you are very different!"

Peyton looks around at all the old computers and recording equipment, not what she thought would be in a ghostbuster's arsenal.

"And you," the Doctor turns just as the furious man enters the room with the Doctor's empath and Clara behind him. "Are Major Alec Palmer. Member of the Baker Street Irregulars, the ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Specialised in espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance behind enemy lines. You're a talented water-colourist, professor of psychology, and, ghost hunter! Total pleasure. Massive."

The Doctor shakes his hand enthusiastically but Alec does not return his energy, seething silently.

"Actually, you're wrong," the empath interrupts.

Oh, what is her name? Peyton wasn't quite listening to the Doctor's explanation of the two lovely people they were about to meet. She was quite busy being annoyed. Oh God, maybe she is going through Time Lord puberty. But surely that's not a thing.

"Professor Palmer spent most of the war as a P.O.W."

"Actually, that's a lie told by a very brave man involved in very secret operations," the Doctor corrects her before turning to the Professor. "The type of man who keeps a Victoria across in a box in the attic, eh?" He turns back to the woman. "But you know that! Because you're Emma Grayling!" He kisses her cheeks. "The professor's companion."

"Assistant," she says, a tad regrettably.

"It's 1974. You're the assistant and 'non-objective equipment'," he says in quotation marks. He turns to Clara. "Meaning psychic."

"Getting that," she says, admiring all the computers and film reels. "Bless you, though."

"Relax, Emma. They're Military Intelligence," Alec says. "So what's this all in aid of?"

"Health and safety," Peyton nods, falling back on their old go-to, leaning back on one of the many desks as Clara jumps up to sit on it next to her. She bites her tongue.

"Yes," the Doctor agrees, putting his hands on his hips. "The Ministry got wind of what's going on down here. "Sent us to check that everything's in order."

"They don't have the right," the professor grumbles.

"Don't worry," Peyton smiles reassuringly with a fleeting glance to Clara. "We won't intrude too long."

"Oh!" The Doctor exclaims. "Oh, look. Oh, lovely. The ACR 99821." He sits himself on the desk beside Clara, reaching over to the largest computer and fiddling with it. "Oh, blues, nice action on the toggle switches. You know, I do love a toggle switch. Actually, I like the word 'toggle'. Nice noun. Excellent verb. Oi, don't mess with the settings." He slaps Clara's hand despite being the only one to touch the thing.

He jumps up and scans the room with his sonic.

"What's that?" The professor objects.

"Gadget," the Doctor says. "Health and safety. Classified, I'm afraid. You know, while the backroom boffins work out a few kinks."

Peyton watches as he moves across the room towards a darkened corridor until he stands in the archway connecting it to the room.

"What's it telling you?" Emma asks.

"It's telling me you haven't been exposed to any life-threatening transmundane emanations," he says, despite only Peyton understanding what came out of his mouth. "So.." he turns and claps, walking back to the Professor and Emma. "Where's the ghost?" He grabs a candelabra off the table before continuing in a soft, sing-song voice. "Show me the ghost."

As if on cue, the harsh wind outside slams against the house, causing shutters of far off rooms to rattle loudly. The Doctor turns to Peyton with wild eyes. "It's ghost time."

• • •

The Professor's office is large and filled with objects eclectically gathered together. The centrepiece is of course the enormous corkboard with numerous photos and documents pinned to it.

In the corner, Clara and Emma have sat down with mugs of tea, getting along swimmingly while the Doctor has the time of his life inspecting the vintage equipment and wasting film by taking selfies on their cameras.

Peyton, however, finds herself genuinely interested in this 'ghost'. Of course, it can't be a real ghost, they don't exist. But the crawling sensation that crawls up the back of her neck when she enters a room, there's no faking that.

"Would you care to have a look?" The professor asks, gesturing to his board as the Doctor wanders toward the two girls in the corner.

Shaking her head in his direction, Peyton steps forward. "Impressive work, Professor."

"Caliburn House is over four hundred years old," he begins. "But _she_ has been around much longer... the Caliburn Ghast."

Peyton's eyes brush over each of the black and white images, most of which containing a white blur. It's humanoid, with hands reaching out toward the camera lens. An empty face sits atop its body, a mouth hanging open wide.

"She's mentioned in local Saxon poetry and Parish folk tales. The Wraith of the Lady, the Maiden in the Dark, the Witch of the Well."

"Is she real?" Clara asks, frightening Peyton for a second as she had not heard her sneak up behind her. Peyton turns her head to see the Doctor and Emma not far behind her either. "As in, actually real?"

"Oh, she's real," Alec says darkly. "In the seventeenth century, a local clergyman saw her. He wrote that her presence was accompanied by a 'dreadful knocking, as if the devil himself demanded entry.' During the war, American airmen stationed here left offerings of tinned Spam. The tins were found in 1965, bricked up in the servants' pantry, along with a number of handwritten notes, appeals to the Ghast," he points to one in particular. "For the love of God, stop screaming."

"She never changes," Peyton realises, looking across at all the images, each depicting her in the same position. "The angle differs, the framing, but she's always in exactly the same position. That's very curious. Any theories?"

"We don't know," the Professor says as the Doctor fetches a candelabra from a nearby desk and holds it up to the board to confirm Peyton's observations. "She's an objective phenomenon. But objective recording equipment can't detect her..."

"Without the presence of a powerful psychic," the Doctor finishes his sentence.

"Absolutely," Professor Palmer nods, removing his glasses. "Very well done."

For a moment, nothing is said but quickly, Emma's breathing becomes rapid and uneven, prompting Peyton to look back at her, concerned.

"She knows I'm here," she gasps. "I can feel her... calling out to me."

"What is she saying," Peyton takes a step closer.

"Help me."

• • •

"You coming?" Clara asks in the doorway, holding the candelabra in one hand and using the other to swing off the frame.

Peyton looks between her and the Doctor, the latter giving her a very serious look, silently telling her to stop being so stubborn and come ghost hunting with them. Peyton puffs up her chest slightly, now determined to refuse just to spite the Doctor.

"Nah, I'll stay here," Peyton says, with an air of false regret. "You two go ahead, I want to look at some more of the Professor's work."

Clara nods, looking slightly disappointed before slipping down the corridor out of sight. The Doctor however lingers, glaring at her exasperatedly. Peyton drops her false smile and turns away from him toward the desk where Emma and Alec were standing very close together.

"The music room is at the heart of the house," Emma calls after the Doctor before he slips away.

Peyton doesn't turn back to see him leave but his heavy footsteps become quieter and quieter before she can no longer hear them.

She busies herself, picking up a pile of papers and leading through them quickly. A lot of newspaper cuttings of testimonies from those who had seen this Ghast, folk tales transcribed onto paper and schematics of the house.

"So when did you acquire this house, Professor?" She asks, looking up over the paper.

"It's been a couple of years now, since I heard of the Ghast, I had to know, I couldn't rest without trying to understand what she is, who she is," he replies.

"I see," Peyton frowns, suddenly very uncomfortable, seeing the obnoxious irony of the situation. "How long have you both been working together then?"

The two glance toward one another awkwardly, a spark of something unsaid darting between their eyes. "Uh, just a few months now," Emma splutters, hastily looking away from her partner.

Peyton presses her lips together as she watches the Professor tear his gaze away from Emma and back to his work on the table. She nods to herself, now slightly regretting electing to stay here with the two. Maybe ghost hunting with the human embodiment of a quizzical puppy would be less painful than standing in the thick unspoken romantic tension between these two.

"Uh, tea?" The professor asks awkwardly, shuffling some papers before setting them down.

"Thank you," Emma nods meekly.

"Milk, no sugar, please," Peyton requests.

Alec leaves hastily, disappearing into the corridor, leaving Emma and Peyton alone in his office.

"So..." Peyton draws out the vowel while she tries to find something to small talk about. "An empath. You read feelings, not thoughts. I hate having my thoughts read, very invasive."

"I would imagine," Emma forces a chuckle. "But that sort of psychic couldn't exist, anyway."

Peyton doesn't argue, even though she's wrong. They don't need to go into the alien discussion. "Well," Peyton smirks, turning to lean back against the desk. "Good thing. Can you tell what I'm feeling?"

Peyton focused her thoughts onto travelling with the Doctor, how excited she feels every time they fly through the time vortex and the sense of power that comes with it.

Emma sighs, she probably just gets this question a lot. "There is so much grief within you that you are pushing away. Replacing it with anger in order not to feel it."

The grin on Peyton's face drops immediately. Like a floodgate bursting open, Amy's pale face and deep blue eyes fill her mind as the image of the Scottish girl looking back at her for the last time fills up any available space in her mind.

"So much pain, so much anger," Emma continues, he eyes downcast and trying to look anywhere but Peyton before her.

"I..." Peyton begins but doesn't know what she could say. She is frozen in place but she's drowning, panic filling her body like water spilling into her lungs. Her pale hands grip the desk behind her, trying to anchor herself to reality. "I'm sorry."

"It is not me who you should be sorry for," Emma says, collecting herself and placing a gentle hand on Peyton's bicep, before tearing it away quickly. "Sorry, we've only just met. This is imprudent."

"No, no," Peyton steps away, wiping at her eyes hastily. "No, it's okay. It's fine."

She picks up a pile of photographs and looks through them busily, wishing to have never brought the subject up.

"Are you really from the ministry?" Emma asks, careful footsteps entering the room accompany her question and within a few seconds, a mug of tea is placed before her.

"Yeah, of course, yeah," Peyton says rather quickly, nodding in thanks to the Professor for the tea.

"Well, _he_ certainly has the right demeanour," Professor Palmer scoffs before taking a sip of tea. "Capricious... brilliant."

"Deceitful," Emma supplies.

Both of them turn very slowly to Peyton who is frozen mid sip. She regains a cool composure. "Okay, not from the ministry." She places her mug down and walks over to them. "But we are here to help. We know a thing or two about the paranormal and the strange. So, can you trust us, trust him... for me?"

Both Alec and Emma still for a second, blinking hard before relaxing, unconsciously feeling the effects of Peyton's manipulative words.

The young Time Lady bites her lip. She hasn't used her gift in so long, perhaps not even since _they_ died. She shakes the thought of the Pond's by reminding herself that she can now probably use it on Clara when she won't shut up.

• • •

Three loud bangs precede Peyton thrusting her hands inside her sweatshirt pocket as the temperature drops suddenly.

She follows Emma out into the foyer where the Professor's equipment whirs and clicks manically.

"The storm's taking a turn," Peyton mentions as she takes a look at the machines. A thermometer attached to one shows the mercury hitting zero. She shivers.

"No," Emma whispers, staring off into a darkened hallway. "It's her. She's coming."

Another round of three bangs prompts Peyton to whip out her sonic pen and scan the machines before circling the room. Professor Palmer joins Emma as she does this with a camera in hand. The readings don't look promising. Almost nothing. The machines are mostly picking up the drop in temperature, a spike in air disturbance, and...

A scream from upstairs tears Peyton's attention away from her sonic. The Doctor and Clara appear at the top of the staircase, sprinting down it hastily, Clara's candelabra blown out.

Just as they reach the landing a black disk materialises behind Peyton who instinctively points her sonic at it.

The disk is almost half as tall as she is, floating in the air and producing a high pitched ringing.

"Has this happened before?" The Doctor asks as he joins Peyton's side.

"Never!" Alec says.

"Camera, please," Peyton tucks her sonic away and snatched the film camera from the Professor's hands and hastily begins photographing the thing.

The front of it seems to shatter like glass, as if something had stricken its surface.

"Doctor! Peyton!" Clara yells.

She turns quickly to see the corridor beyond Emma has disappeared, revealing an eerie forest scene with a single glowing white figure reaching out to them.

Without a moment to lose, Peyton continues taking photos until the camera protests that the film is depleted.

With a great noise, the scene disappears and so does the black plate beside her.

She lowers the camera slowly as Emma falls backward into Alec's arms and the Doctor stands frozen beside them.

• • •

The red room isn't nearly as exciting as it sounded.

The Doctor, Peyton and the Professor stand huddled over trays of developing fluid and around photographs hanging from lengths of string around their heads.

"What do you think she is?" Professor Palmer asks.

"Not what I'd thought she'd be," the Doctor says as he pegs a photograph of himself beside the Ghast on the string to dry.

"What did you think she'd be?"

"Fun," he sighs, staring at the image for a second longer. "Can we borrow your camera?"

"Thanks," Peyton says as the Doctor walks off without a word of gratitude.

• • •

"I've got this weird feeling it's looking at me," Clara whispers as the three of them huddle under the one umbrella outside the Tardis. "It doesn't like me."

Peyton feels an irrational sense of pride at this. Even the Tardis doesn't like her, she must bring up to the Doctor that he's outnumbered on this one.

"The Tardis is like a cat," the Doctor explains. "A bit slow to trust but you'll get there in the end."

He runs off to unlock the doors but Peyton remains with Clara under the umbrella. "If you're lucky," she adds.

• • •

The Doctor disappears outside into the wasteland of Earth with a final warning not to mess with the controls and Peyton leans back against the railing, pulling out her phone. She doesn't get too many texts, mostly just news alerts, U.N.I.T assignments, and the odd photo of a blurry sunset from her parents.

She glances across the flight deck to Clara who stares up eagerly into the monitor, watching the Doctor look around, taking a few photos as he goes. She lets out a shaky breath and even from the other side of the console, Peyton can see her round eyes become wet.

"You alright?" She asks dubiously, regretting the words as they come out of her mouth.

"Yeah," Clara lies. "No. Have we just watched the entire life cycle of the Earth? Birth to death?"

Peyton is stunned for a second before pushing herself off the railing and slipping her phone away. She meanders over to the console, running her fingers along it until she can see in the monitor where Clara is looking. "I guess we have, yeah."

"And you're okay with that?"

Peyton frowns. "Yes?"

"How can you be?" Clara looks up at Peyton, only a few of inches taller than her, even slouched against the console. Peyton meets her eye before looking away hastily and turning to lean back against the console, crossing her arms.

"We're in a time machine," she says, looking around. "She is... time."

"That's not what I mean," Clara says quietly. "You were born here, right, that is your home, our home, and we just watched it die. One minute, we're in 1974, looking for ghosts, but all you have to do is open your eyes and talk to whoever's standing there. To _him_ I haven't been born yet, and to him, I've been dead a hundred billion years. Is my body out there somewhere? In the ground? Is yours?"

"That's a little macabre," Peyton looks back over to Clara who is staring up at her with those ridiculous round eyes, clearly distressed and searching for answers. "But yeah, I guess. I assume you are, maybe me too. I'm not sure how long I've got or if I will even end up here in the end."

"But here we are, talking," she stresses. "So I am a ghost. To you both, I'm a ghost. We're all ghosts to you. We must be nothing."

"No, of course not," Peyton scoffs, turning away to walk around the console.

"Then what are we?" Clara calls after her. "What can we possibly be?"

"He doesn't think like that," Peyton shakes her head, she stops, not facing Clara. "The Doctor, he sees the beauty and the amazing in everything. He lives in the moment and treasures every second of you all. You're so real to him, Clara."

"And what about you?"

Peyton turns slowly, meeting Clara's eye after a second of hesitation. The Doctor, so old, suffering so much loss. She could never understand how he could just continue onward with those he leaves behind. How he can travel with Clara, and even herself, without only seeing the ghosts of the past. But perhaps she does now. "Maybe I'm just not old enough yet."

The doors of the Tardis burst open as the Doctor renters. Peyton watches Clara dab at her eyes a little before looking up at him.

With a click, he removes his helmet and looks at each of his companions in turn, grinning. "What are you two chatting about? Or is it secret girl stuff? Am I intruding?"

"Of course not," Clara laughs, her tone completely different from moment before. "Yeah, just girl stuff. Boys, alien politics, the like."

The Doctor nods happily before heading down the stairs to remove his hideously orange hazmat suit. As he reaches the steps, he turns back to Peyton and wiggles his eyebrows at her, beaming ridiculously.

Peyton rolls her eyes and turns away. Having one meaningful conversation with Clara doesn't mean they're best friends. Yes, it was one of the least irritating conversations they've had. But that doesn't mean she _likes_ her.

• • •

"Right! Done! That's it, gather round, gather round. Roll up! Roll up!" the Doctor announces in the middle of the study. Peyton pushes herself out of the armchair by the dark where she has been watching Clara and Emma talk across the room to join him and the Professor.

He sonics the projector on the table before him which in turn lights up a screen across the room. Peyton folds her arms as the image of the ghostly figure in the house's sitting room appears.

"The Ghast of Caliburn house," the Doctor says. "Never changing, trapped in a moment of fear and torment. But what if she's not? What if she's just trapped somewhere time runs more slowly than it does here. What if a second to her was one hundred thousand years to us? And what is somebody has a magic box? A blue box, probably. What if said somebody could take a snapshot of her, say, every few million years?" The images on the screen begin to change in rapid succession, accompanied by the heavy click of the projector shutter.

"She's not a ghost," Peyton thinks out loud, staring at the image of a very alive looking young woman dressed in white. She seems to be running away from something with a very scared face.

"Exactly but she is a lost soul," the Doctor begins, walking up to the screen. "Her name is Hila Tacorian." The Doctor sonics the projector and an image sourced from the Tardis databases appears. "She's a pioneer, a time traveller. Or at least she will be, in a few hundred years."

"Time travel's not possible," Professor Palmer objects. "The paradoxes-"

"Resolve themselves, by and large," Peyton interrupts.

"How long has she been alone?" Emma asks meekly, walking slowly up the screen.

"Well, time travel's a funny old thing," the Doctor turns to her. "I mean, from her perspective, she crash-landed... three minutes ago"

"Crash landed? Where?" Emma frowns.

"She's in a pocket universe," the Doctor says, turning to the occupants of the rest of the room. Peyton's face turns sour, the little experience she's had with pocket universes does not fill her with hope for the rest of the night's activities which she assumes consists of saving this miss Tacorian. "A distorted echo of our own, they happen sometimes but never last for long."

The Doctor pulls out two balloons from his pockets. He blows into one than the other. "Our universe," he says, holding up the blue balloon. "Hila Tacorian's here, in a pocket universe," he brandished the other, red, balloon, holding it at a distance from its counterpart. He looks directly at Emma. "You're a lantern, shining across the dimensions, guiding her home. Back to the land of the living."

He lets the balloons deflate, causing Emma to giggle, lifting her frown.

"She's running from something," Peyton points out, recalling the images. "Do we know what she's running from?"

"You know, I'm not quite sure," the Doctor shrugs, before bounding over to sonic the projector again. "Let's take a look."

The projector lens snaps once more and every person in the room falls silent as they stare at the blurred image on the screen.

Some sort of creature, holding itself upon four legs, it's short neck supporting a small head. It's difficult to make out, but none the less, the creature sends a chill down Peyton's spine.

"Oh," the Doctor whispers, barely audible.

"What is that?" Clara asks, her voice raspy and quavering.

"I don't know," the Doctor gulps. Silent tension extends into the next few seconds. Before the Doctor claps. "Still! Not to worry!"

"So, what do we do?" Emma asks, unable to tear her eyes away from the monster.

"Not 'we', you," the Doctor says, walking up to her seriously. "You save Hila Tacorian because you are Emma Grayling. You are the lantern. The rest of us are just along for the ride, I'm afraid." He pats her on the shoulder before turning away to address everyone. "We need some study rope and a blue crystal from Metebelis Three. Plus, some Kendal Mint Cake."

• • •

Peyton jogs back into the living room where the Doctor, Clara, Emma, and Alec are waiting after fixing the cables running through the house and grounds to the Tardis.

A circle of chairs and crates with piles of books and assorted knick-knacks surround the Doctor's contraption and Emma Grayling, sifting in a chair looking rather nervous.

"Here we are," the Doctor nods as Peyton joins him before picking up the helmet he had made and placing it on Emma's head. "All the way from Metebelis Three."

"What does it do?" She asks as Peyton bats Clara's hand away from the large blue crystal above the trans-universal base. She motions to the Doctor's tethering vest across the room and Clara nods eagerly, trotting off to prepare it.

The Doctor had insisted that he was the only one going, not without much argument from Peyton of course. But the Doctor reminded her that she was the only one who would be able to stay there and make sure everything went smoothly. She grumbled and didn't talk to him for a minute and a half.

"It amplifies your natural abilities like a microphone," the Doctor explains, walking around their circle of stuff and using his sonic to change the time on the few clocks they collected. "Or a pooper-scooper."

"What exactly is this arrangement?" Professor Palmer asks, following the Doctor.

"A psychochronograph," he says as if it is as simple as pie, waving Clara over to help him get into the vest.

"Forgive me, but isn't it all a bit, well... make-do and mend?"

"Non-psychic technology won't help where he's going," Peyton tries to explain. "Diving into another dimension isn't something that you can do with fancy dials and switches."

"Will it be dangerous?" Alec asks.

"Well, in order, I'm going to travel outside of our universe, find the time-traveller, help her escape the monster, get home before the entire dimension collapses and Bob's your uncle," the Doctor smiles. "So just a little."

"Doctor?" Emma shivers. "Will it hurt?"

The Doctor leaned forward tho her level. "No," he says with a kind smile. He straightens up. "Well, yes. Probably. A bit. Well, quite a lot. I don't know. It might be agony. To be perfectly honest, I'll be interested to find out."

"Doctor," Peyton hisses, hitting him in the back of the head as Emma audibly gulps. She looks across to the Professor across the room who nods solemnly.

"You can do it," Peyton says to her softly. "We'll be right here the whole time."

Emma exhales before letting her eyes flutter closed. "I'm talking to the lost soul that abides in this place... I'm speaking to Hila Tacorian."

The arms of the clocks around the circle start spinning rapidly and a cold chill enters the room. Like a crack of thunder, the floating black disc appears again, hovering by the doorway, spinning softly and producing a high pitched humming.

The surface of it shatters like glass before the whole thing falls apart with a bright light and gale-force wind.

Peyton lifts an arm to block the light and steadies her stance against it. She feels a hand come to wrap around her bicep, clinging on against the tear in space.

"See?" She hears the Doctor shout over the commotion. "The Witch of the Well! It's a wormhole! A reality well! A door to the echo universe! Ready?"

"Ready!" Emma screams.

The Doctor cracks his neck before breaking out into a sprint toward the light, disappearing into it.

Peyton watches the rope spin out of the cable reel. Until it stops, leaving a couple feet of rope still wrapped around the reel. He's landed, wherever he is.

The wormhole, still spilling its blinding light into their reality, holds open. Peyton checks the device as best she can. It all looks clear but there's not much to do besides wait.

Several long minutes pass staring into the chasm across the room. Peyton begins to worry. He said it shouldn't take too long, the pocket universe was only small.

"How does he know where to come back?" Clara asks over the nose. "What if he can't come back?"

"He needs a signal!" Peyton agrees. "Emma, you're the lantern. Call out to him like you call out to Hila! Lead him back!"

"Doctor!" Emma calls. "Doctor! Doctor, come home!"

The force of the wormhole becomes stronger, a result of the decaying universe. Peyton feels Clara stumble behind her and wraps both her arms around Peyton's bicep and should. Peyton in turn, grabbing the Professor by the sleeve to help her with the extra weight. Come on, Doctor.

"Doctor! Doctor... come home! Doctor, we're here! Doctor!"

Peyton glances over to the device, the brilliant blue light of the crystal flickers uncomfortably.

"Doctor! I'm not strong enough to!" Emma howls.

"Just a few more seconds!" Clara cries.

"You can do it, Emma," Peyton accompanies.

Emma screams, her head rolling back. But the rope by her feet, grabs Peyton's attention as something tugs at it.

"It's them!" Peyton yells over the noise. The Professor gets quick to work, grabbing the crank handle and pulling the Doctor and Hila to safety.

A figure falls through the wormhole but it's not the Doctor. Alec rushes forward to help Hila to her feet but Peyton keeps an eye out for the Doctor.

With a sob, Emma collapses, causing Peyton to run toward her, trying to keep her upright.

"Doctor!" Clara exclaims as the light behind to fad around them. Peyton spins around to see the wormhole collapsing with no sign of the Doctor.

"No!" She yells, dashing toward the doorway, holding her hand out as the last light disappears before their eyes.

In the distance, a cloister bell tolls. The Tardis sensing that her master has gone.

"What do we do now?"

Peyton turns to Clara, whose face is paler than ever, staring ahead to where the rupture in the fabric of reality had sealed itself.

The blond woman looks down to Emma who is being cradled in the Professor's arms.

"I'm sorry," she sobs.

"Don't be sorry. Don't be. What you did..." Professor Palmer says, stroking her hair.

"Wasn't enough, she needs to do it again," Clara demands, storming up to them.

"Hey!" Peyton growls, grabbing her by the wrist and ripping her away from the shaking woman, putting herself between them.

"She can't. Look at her!" Alec reasons.

"She has to!" Clara says, shoving Peyton in the chest. "We can't leave him."

"Hold on, shut up," Peyton orders with a glare, grabbing her by the shoulders and sitting her down in one of the chairs, it's previously occupants scattered across the floor. "Not another _word_ out of you!"

Clara obeys begrudgingly, refusing to meet Peyton's eye, instead gazing across at the doorway the Doctor never reappeared from.

"Hila, are you okay?" Peyton asks softly, turning to the panting traveller on the floor, holding out a hand to help her up.

"Thank you, I'm okay," she replies accepting the help. Once she's on her feet, she asks. "Who are you?"

"No time," Peyton shakes her head. She sighs, rubbing her sinuses. "Clara, I need you to go to the Tardis. Grab the toolbox, grab anything else we left there when we were putting all this stuff together. With some time, I think I can pull something together."

"But we don't have time," she protests, jumping to her feet. "We-"

"What part of 'not another word' didn't you understand!" Peyton shouts, causing Clara to jump back a little. "Go! Now, please!"

With a meek nod, Clara scampers away and out of sight.

Peyton hangs her head, breathing deeply. Where did that anger come from? That's been happening a lot lately. Perhaps Emma was right.

"I know you feel that you can't do this, Emma," the Professor says quietly. "But look at that woman over there. You saved her. She's only here because of your strength and so am I. Emma, I was as lost as her... but being with you... you give me a reason to be, Emma. You brought me back from the dead."

Peyton watches as Emma nods weakly. She rushes forward to aid the Professor in helping her to her feet, grabbing the discarded helmet and offering it out to her. She takes it with a knowing nod, still resting her weight against Alec's arm.

Peyton quickly steps around them to the bridge and scans it with her sonic quickly before spinning on the spot to reset all the clocks.

She turns back to see Alec, Emma, and Hila standing in a circle, holding hands and she smiles. "Good luck you three, I have to grab Clara. But I believe in you, Emma. You can bring him home.

With that, she breaks into a sprint through the house, the sound of the wormhole opening behind her.

The cold air of the dark English morning greets her as she leaves the building and spots Clara in the distance banging against the Tardis doors.

"What are you doing?" Peyton yells as she skids to a halt on the damp leaves around the time machine.

"It won't let me in!" Clara groans. "I'm trying to save him but it won't let me in!"

"Save him?" Peyton frowns pulling her away from the box. "Emma's opened the wormhole again, we don't need the Tardis anymore."

"And what, you're going to jump in and save him like the Doctor did for Hila?" Clara argues. "What if _you_ don't come back?"

"And what do you suggest? That I fly the Tardis in there and get him? She won't make it!"

"Yes!" Clara exasperates. "Exactly, let's go! Once we have the Doctor, he can get us out of there!"

"Even for the Doctor, piloting the Tardis into a pocket universe is a struggle, I haven't even flown her by myself before!"

"You can do it," Clara says confidently, staring up at her with those round eyes. She grabs her hand and presses her palm against the door of the Tardis.

Peyton looks at where her hand is being held against its will against the wood. She sighs, unable to believe that she's actually giving into this. "What do you say, old girl. Can you help me?"

With a loud click, the door falls open and Clara drops Peyton's hand. "After you."

Peyton doesn't hesitate, running inside and immediately preparing the Tardis for flight. Switches seem to move of their own accord, the heart of the Tardis helping her prep for the dangerous journey beyond the universe.

Peyton grins to herself before making eye contact with Clara across the console who seems to be hanging on for dear life.

Maybe they were going to make it after all.

• • •

Peyton slams the brakes.

It had been so close. She somehow managed to pilot the Tardis through the wormhole, the Doctor clinging to the outside time machine. She can barely believe they'd survived.

She runs out to the doors where she sees the Doctor, hair a mess, bow tie missing but staring at her incredulously.

A shaky sob from Emma diverts his attention and he runs over to her, helping Hila and Alec prop her up in the chair.

He laughs as sunlight pours in through the window.

Peyton walks up to Emma, removing the helmet from her head and smiling at her in thanks, but the brave woman buried her head into Alec's coat, exhausted.

A tap on the shoulder turns her around.

"You did it, you flew the Tardis beyond the universe. That's incredible!" The Doctor grabs Peyton on either side of her face and plants a kiss in her hairline.

"Well, the Tardis guided me," Peyton bludges. "And I guess, I got some needed encouragement from someone."

She looks across to Clara who is leaning against the Tardis with her arms folded and a smug smile on her face.

• • •

"You wanted a word?" Emma says, appearing behind Peyton and the Doctor as they wait in the foyer. The Doctor has been watching Clara outside through the doors, talking with Hila and Alec while Peyton was content to simply relax against the wall. It had been a long night, even for her.

"Well, if that's..."

"That's fine," Emma interrupts him. "You didn't come here for the ghost, did you?"

"No," the Doctor admits, turning to her.

"You came here for me."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"We needed to ask you something," the Doctor says lowly.

"Then ask."

The Doctor can't seem to find the words.

"Clara..." Peyton begins, glancing out toward her for a second before back at Emma.

"Yes?"

"What is she?"

"She's a girl," Emma says, confused.

"Yes, but what kind of girl? Specifically," the Doctor steps forward.

"She's a perfectly ordinary girl," Emma stresses. "Very pretty... very clever... more scared than she lets on."

The Doctor nods, walking away to gaze out at Clara again. "And that's it, is it?"

"Why? Is that not enough?"

The Doctor shakes his head before walking out into the lawn.

"Thank you," Peyton smiles at Emma. "For everything."

"Peyton, just one second," Emma says as the Time Lady turns to leave, stopping her in her tracks.

"Hmm?"

"That anger you're holding onto, I saw you before, it scared you," Emma says cautiously. "Perhaps it's time to let it go? I know the grieving process is different for everyone. But just because Clara reminds you of whoever you lost, she's not replacing them, she's her own person. And she wants your acceptance more than you know."

Peyton bites her lip, looking out to the Doctor and Clara and sighing. "I didn't even realise how I was acting. It just kind of... happened. It's not fair to her."

"Good luck," Emma says. "Be kind to yourself."


	43. The Day they Both Forgot

Peyton makes her appearance in the console room with her hair still slightly damp to the sound of arguing. She pauses at the bottom of the stairs with a packet of crisps in hand, staring up at the Doctor chasing Clara around the console. 

"You said-"

"I know what I said! I was the one who said it!" Clara cuts him off.

"You said it was looking at you funny," the Doctor says, his long coat thrown over the railing and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

"I was tired! Overwrought. I didn't mean it," she shrugs, not slowing her pace. "It's an appliance. It does a job."

"Yes, a pretty cool appliance! We're not talking cheese grater over here."

"You're not getting me to talk to your ship. That's properly bonkers!"

"It's okay, it's okay," the Doctor coos to the console, running his hands along it.

Clara shivers. "Ugh, you're like one of those guys who can't go out with a girl unless his mother approves."

"It's important to me you get along," the Doctor says, coming to a stop. "I could leave you alone together?"

"Now you're creeping me out," Clara folds her arms, stopping across the console from him.

"Ah-hem," Peyton coughs.

Both Clara and the Doctor look down at her as if caught in the act of something shameful.

"Peyton, you said you were hopping in the shower," the Doctor says guiltily.

"Yes, and then I got out," Peyton slowly walks up the steps to the flight deck. "I didn't know we were picking _her_ up."

"It was a surprise, out of the blue, spur of the moment," Clara says quickly. Peyton looks over to her as she pops a crisp in her mouth.

"Yes, and I'm glad you're here!" The Doctor walks over to the other Time Lord and grabs her by the shoulders. "Maybe you can help Clara and the Tardis get along. Teach her the basics. Clara, how do you feel about taking the wheel?"

"The what?" Clara raises an eyebrow.

"Not the wheel," the Doctor smacks his forehead before walking over to her.

"Wait, no, why do I have to?" Peyton glares at the back of his head, several crisps in the bag snap under the pressure of her fist.

"Hush," the Doctor snaps back at her before looking to Clara. "We'll make it easy, shut it down to basic mode for you."

"Basic!" Clara objects as the Doctor gets to work on the controls. "Cause I'm a girl?"

"Nope," Peyton sighs, folding her bag of crisps and leaning over to tuck them in the pocket of the Doctor's coat for storage. "Because you're human."

The Doctor turns a key in the control panel and the Tardis makes a strange sound. "All yours," he smiles at Peyton.

She walks over to the controls where Clara is standing, who is clearly trying to pull a cool facade over her excited demeanour.

"Right," Peyton begins, placing her hands over Clara's lightly to guide them. "You're gonna wanna pull this row down, then this blue lever here, flick that up."

Peyton stands back as Clara carefully follows her instructions. With a glance up to the Doctor, who is beaming proudly, Clara pushes up the final blue lever.

With a jolt, the main lights in the console room switch off, leaving only the time router and the dim blue ring lights on the walls of the balcony to cut through the darkness.

"What have I done?" Clara panics, pulling her hands away from the controls quickly.

The red warning lights on the ceiling pulse to life and through the Tardis speakers a rock sound unknown to Peyton starts playing.

"Er, okay," the Doctor blinks before walking around to the monitor.

"I'm sorry, I thought I was doing okay-"

"You didn't do anything," Peyton cuts her off before following the Doctor. "What's going on?"

A crack appears in the glass of the screen, followed by another.

Looking down at the image of the galaxy, Peyton sees a very large object next to the Tardis and the energy readings indicating a magno-grab.

She rushes around to the control panel by the railing behind the Doctor and begins entering in the command sequences for rebooting the time machine.

"Doctor, Peyton, what's going on?" Clara asks sheepishly.

"All the electrical impulses are jammed," the Doctor says frantically. "I can't get the shields back up. Peyton?"

"Reboot sequence not responding," Peyton slams her hand against the edge of the console unit before stepping to his side. "She's completely vulnerable."

"I swear I just touched it! Just like you said!"

"It wasn't you!" Peyton yells back frustratedly.

With a heave, the Doctor tries to force the Tardis into flight but the ship has other ideas, sending out a shower of sparks from the console that throws its three passengers away from it.

Peyton groans as her body is bent in two over the railing and all the air is forced from her lungs. She falls onto her backside on the Tardis floor, wincing as it winds her even more.

"Magnetic hobble-field!" The Doctor yells over the noise of the Tardis' tantrum. Peyton pushes herself onto her front and jumps up to her feet. She tries to use the console for support but another burst of sparks forced her to push herself away again.

"How are the ship's vitals?" Peyton shouts, rushing around the console to help the Doctor stabilise the time machine.

"Not good!" The Doctor replies before ducking under a shower of sparks. "Clara, stay by us!"

"Please tell me there's a button you can press to fix this!"

"Oh, yes!" Peyton laughs sarcastically as she struggles against the controls. "Big friendly button, I'll just pull one out of my-"

Peyton is cut off by the Tardis throwing her away from the centre console and toward the edge of the flight deck, slamming her into the railing.

"Clara, everything is going to be fine!" The Doctor reassures her as Peyton rubs her arm where it collided with the metal.

"Are you lying?"

"Yep, sorry."

"To stop me freaking out?"

"Is it working?"

"Not so much!"

Peyton throws herself back at the console, at this point just flicking random switches and pressing random buttons, praying that just one of them would do something.

As she reaches for another lever, she sees Clara drop something small and round onto the floor with a shriek.

As she frowns, a bright light encapsulates her vision and Peyton feels herself flying back from the console.

• • •

A cloister bell tolls deep within the time machine, followed by another in a steady beat. Peyton groans, every part of her body sore and cold.

She forces her eyes open to see the grey roof and walls of the Tardis corridors where she finds herself lying flat on her back. Everything is bathed in red light, the Tardis' emergency power system.

With a great heave, she pushes herself to sit up, looking around at the unusually cluttered corridor, filled with pipes and wires, and bits of wall.

In fact, under one of these pieces of debris, she spots a pale body, lying splayed out amidst the mess.

"Oh, shit," Peyton hisses, before hastily crawling over and lifting a hand to Clara's unconscious neck and taking her pulse, thankfully she's got one.

"Good to know you care enough to see whether I'm alive," Clara mumbles, blinking heavily as she returns to consciousness.

Peyton pulls away from her and sits on her haunches. "I think that's the bare minimum of being a decent person. And the Doctor would kill me if you wound up dead."

"Where are we? What happened? Where's the Doctor?" Clara asks as she tries to sit up herself, Peyton gets up to help lift the heavy metal sheets off of her.

"Tardis, we crashed, I've only been conscious for thirty seconds, give me a couple more."

She watches Clara rub the base of her neck, looking around at the mess around them. Peyton sighs as the tiny treacherous voice in her head reminds her about her recent promises to the Doctor to be kinder to Clara. She extends a hand out and down to help her arm.

Clara reaches up to take it but as she gets to her feet, she rips her hand out of Peyton's with a wince.

The brunette woman looks down into her palm, causing Peyton to frown. She reaches out and takes Clara's hand gently, inspecting what seems to be a pretty nasty burn seared into her skin. An image of Clara by the console dropping something with a cry flashes across Peyton's mind.

"This is why you don't touch random things falling out of an exploding Tardis," Peyton chastises her, dropping her hand and stepping away to look around, attempting to get a sense of where they are.

"It didn't fall out, it just appeared!" Clara insists before blowing gently on her hand.

"Just, try not to touch anything with it," Peyton exhales loudly. "And stay close to me, it's a maze in here and that's even without the Tardis in distress mode."

Clara nods before Peyton turns away and heads down the corridor. She pats down her pockets and realises that she never grabbed her sonic pen from the console room, not having anticipated that she would need it in the shower.

Without a sonic to help her interact with the ship, she guesses she'll have to do this the old fashioned way.

"We'll be fine, right?" Clara asks unsurely after an uncharacteristic minute or so of silence.

"Nothing can get through those Tardis doors that we don't want in here. She'll keep us safe," Peyton replies, not looking back at her as they turn a corner.

"You both talk like it's actually a creature," Clara laughs in a sort of forced way. "Like him, I get but you seem a little sane, no offence. I mean, you're completely sane. But, it's a space ship. How can it be alive."

"Oh, she's alive alright," Peyton huffs, remembering her encounter with the soul of the Tardis when she was trapped in a human body. "I've met her. Kinda insane, very ominous."

"Okay, I'm just going to say it," Clara says, the sound of her footsteps behind Peyton's slow to a halt. Peyton looks behind her to see Clara rooted to the spot, looking up at her with those ridiculous eyes. "What is your problem with me?"

"I don't have a problem with you," Peyton lies quickly, her voice betraying her by raising an octave.

"Why don't you like me? Did I do something?" Clara asks, easing her voice and throwing her hands up defeatedly.

"Nothing, what? I like you, fine. Well, you ask a lot of questions but other than that, fine," Peyton shoves her hands in her pockets and turns away. "Come on, let's keep moving."

"No, not until you're straight with me!" Clara insists. Peyton turns back to her with a raised eyebrow to see Clara glaring at her. "I have been patient, I haven't said a word, but no matter what, you always seem to find some reason to avoid me, chastise me, or yell at me. At first, I thought it was because of your weird relationship with a thousand-year-old mad man and you were jealous-"

"I'm not in love with him if that's what you're trying to get at," Peyton interrupts her, feeling her blood begin to heat.

"You say you're just friends but friends don't act the way you do," Clara folds her arms.

"It's... hard to explain."

"Then do it, we have the time now, don't we. You can't avoid me forever. I need you to give me an honest answer; Peyton, why don't you like me?"

Peyton stares at her for several seconds, unable to form any sort of words. Behind Peyton's eyes, the Doctor's words to her about her pushing Clara away flood through her head, followed by Emma Grayling's soft smile as she reveals her anger and grief. Finally, Amy Pond smiles at her, hand in hand with her husband who looks at her disapprovingly.

"I'm... sorry," Peyton manages, almost every part of her screaming to keep her pride and storm off. "Yeah, um... not long before we met, I lost my two best friends. We travelled with the Doctor together, and they died. With the time machine and all, the Doctor has had longer to grieve and recover. I guess it's just hard seeing him twirl you around the universe in their place."

"Peyton..." Clara's face drops before she starts to walk toward the taller girl but Peyton takes this opportunity to turn away and start walking again, not exactly wanting to go into detail. Fortunately, Clara's footsteps follow.

"And as for, the Doctor and I, I guess he's something like a foster father slash mentor slash insane uncle," Peyton says with as much steadiness as she can manage whilst trying to subtly wipe at her eye. "My dad back home, he and my mum don't know about any of this, only that I travel. But my biological dad... well, he wasn't very nice. I'm glad I never got to meet him."

"I'm sorry," Clara says quietly. "I didn't mean to pry, I had no idea."

"Don't be, It's fine," Peyton sighs. "It still doesn't change the fact you ask way too many questions, seem to have an affinity for risking your life unnecessarily, and are incredibly bossy."

"Good to know," Clara replies in a lighter tone. "So how can I get myself on your good side then?"

Peyton turns, walking backward so she can look at her with a critical eyebrow raised. "I suppose, don't get either of us killed?"

"I think I can manage that," Clara cracks a smile. "Where's the fun if there's no challenge. I like a girl who's hard to get."

Peyton fights the blush rising in her cheeks as she turns around to continue leading Clara through the Tardis. She's just trying to rile her up.

The two continue through the halls, travelling through door after door with no sight of any Tardis rooms, let alone any helpful ones. The Tardis must be in lockdown, perhaps trying to keep them safe from something, but what?

"Hey, Peyton, look at this," Clara calls. Peyton looks behind her but she is nowhere to be seen. She backtracks and peers down an adjacent corridor, where Clara is reaching up to the wall.

Peyton steps closer to see a deep scar in the wall, like a claw mark, but the wall almost seems burnt around it.

A deep growl rattles in the distance, causing Peyton and Clara to look at one another.

"Let's keep moving," Peyton suggests uneasily.

• • •

"Finally," Peyton smiles when she sees a door up ahead. "In here."

It is the first door they've seen since the two awoke on the floor, wandering through identical corridors mostly in silence, however, every so often Clara will ask another anxious question about their whereabouts or if Peyton really knows where they're going.

With a press of a button, the door falls open to reveal a room Peyton seldom visits. As the two girls step inside the room, dust fills their nostrils causing Peyton to lift her elbow to cough into it.

The Museum, as Peyton and Amy had dubbed it when they discovered it years ago, is filled with knick-knacks from adventures the Doctor has had over his many years travelling the universe. Stacked on bookshelves and tables, hanging on the walls and lying on the floor; the place is a treasure trove of items lost and found from Earth and beyond.

"You guys should get someone in for the cleaning," Clara says with a grimace as she trails her fingers along the bronze mobile of the old Gallifreyan cot Peyton had not seen since Demon's Run.

"Why do you think we keep you around?" Peyton jests but before Clara can voice her disapproval, she continues. "There's got to be a reason the Tardis brought us here. Keep moving, try not to break anything."

Peyton disobeys her own instructions and lingers by the cot a few seconds longer, reaching out to touch it, but at the last second she tears her fingers away before they can brush against it.

She looks up to Clara, who a few feet away now, is reaching up to a shelf to retrieve a small blue object with quiet amusement in her eyes.

"Careful," Peyton says, snatching it out of her hands. "It's old." She turns the cardboard Tardis in her hands, memories flooding back from her childhood of running around Amelia's garden with this, pretending they were flying about and saving the day.

"It's adorable," Clara smiles.

"My friend made this when we were kids," Peyton says as she places it back on the shelf carefully. "I didn't know we had it here."

She watches Clara bounce off to a nearby table and picking up an old-timey umbrella with a wooden handle shaped like a question mark, inspecting it closely.

Peyton continues looking around too, following Clara at a distance and gazing around at everything in the room.

That is until something shifting beyond a nearby shelving unit catches her eye. She stills, staring at what she first assumes to be a trick of the light. But then it shifts again.

Dark, vaguely humanoid, and watching them.

"Clara," Peyton says very quietly. "We need to go."

"What? We just got here," Clara complains. "And didn't you say the Tardis wanted us to come here?"

The creature beyond the shelf growls, alerting Clara to its presence. She jumps and scampers back toward Peyton.

"Yeah? Sometimes I'm wrong, it happens. Now, run!"

• • •

"Can't you sonic it?" Clara asks, looking over her shoulder as they run down the corridors.

"I don't have it on me!" Peyton retorts, slowing to a jog only to see that the things are indeed still following them. Cracked and burned, the things move slowly but erratically, somehow always on their tail. She picks up her pace again to match Clara. "It's still in the console room, I didn't think I'd need it in the shower."

"You said nothing could get through the Tardis doors!" She says accusingly.

"Nothing in the universe," Peyton confirms. "But the alternative does not fill me with much confidence."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Shut up, in here," Peyton orders, grabbing Clara by the forearm and tugging her into an adjacent room that she could recognise anywhere.

The cold, dark library stands foreboding as ever but provides ample shelter as the two duck behind a shelf.

Peyton watches the door for a few seconds through a gap in the tomes but the creature doesn't make an appearance, leaving Peyton content that they shook it off their trail.

"Is it gone? Are we safe? Do you know where it went?" Clara whispers behind her.

"I think we're safe for now," Peyton says, breathing a sigh of relief. She turns to Clara who is blowing on her palm again, her burn ripening into a deep red, revealing a set of markings on her skin where the redness had not reached, whatever burned her must have had a carved inscription on it.

"You know, one of my friends who travelled with me used to carry around an emergency medical kit, I always used to tease him for it. He's probably laughing now."

"Now, that's sensible," Clara flexes her hand carefully before wincing. "I would have loved to meet him."

"You did, at the-"

Peyton stops herself before her words her away from her. Yes, from her point of view, she met Clara for the first time in the Dalek Asylum but the young woman has proved to be a completely different person to the trapped soul they met there

"What do you... Woah," Clara gasps, looking past Peyton to the massive library. "Now that's just showing off."

"Try not to get too distracted," Peyton warns happy to have slid past that awkward conversation. "If we can get to one exit in particular, it should lead us closer to the console room."

• • •

"What's the Time War?" Clara asks from a few bookshelves over, distracted just as Peyton warned her against.

"What makes you ask that?" Peyton grumbles as she makes her way over to the sound of her voice.

As she emerges from behind the shelves, she sees Clara standing by a podium reaching out for the old dusty book Peyton had poured over herself many times. 'The History of the Time War'.

"I wouldn't..." Peyton warns as Clara opens the book to the middle. She looks back at the Time Lord hesitantly so Peyton obliges, stepping forward and placing a hand on the page. "It's a long, long story. I'll leave it for the Doctor to tell."

Clara nods solemnly. Peyton, satisfied with that, turns and spots up ahead in the distance, the usual entrance to the library she uses, the one closest to the console room.

"Come on, we should-"

The sound of the door opening and low growling cuts Peyton off. Without a second thought, she grabs Clara by the hand and pulls her into the maze of shelves and presses a finger to her own lips.

With their backs against the wooden shelves and dusty books, Peyton listens closely to the sound of footsteps and continued growling.

She turns her head to Clara and points to the floor signalling for her to get low so they can move to another hiding place easier.

On their hands and knees, the two crawl as fast and as quietly as they can to a shorter set of shelves where they sit up and press their backs against it, listening and waiting.

The whispers of the gaseous Gallifreyan encyclopaedias on the shelves around them join the unsettlingly growling in the echoey room.

Peyton stares at the ceiling, trying to formulate a plan. They're just going to have to make a break from whatever this thing is. At least she knows Clara can run like hell.

The sound of bottles rattling above her head snaps her out of her head and she catches Clara slam her back into the shelves. She must have been peeking out and gotten frightened.

The whispering immediately becomes louder. Peyton looks up to see that one of the bottles has tipped over and is spilling out into the air. She quickly jumps to her feet and waves her hands in front of it to disperse the leaking gas. But she fears it's too late.

She pulls Clara to her feet as well as they duck behind a taller bookcase and listen to the sound of her pulse in her head and the bearing footsteps of the creature.

Peyton feels Clara's hand wrap itself in hers but she doesn't have a snide remark to give. She offers a gentle squeeze as she calculates that the monster could be no more than a few feet away now.

A roar penetrates the library's walls from somewhere in the depths of the Tardis, startling Peyton. However, the creature breaks into a run straight past its prey and across the library towards its source leaving Peyton to tighten her grip on Clara's hand and pull her into a run toward the nearest door.

• • •

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Peyton cheers as she jumps up to the nearly destroyed flight deck of the console room. After journeying through endless corridors again, the Tardis has finally delivered them to the console, but there's no sign of the Doctor. "If I can get some, if any systems back online, I might be able to send a message to the Doctor, I'm sure he's in the Tardis somewhere looking for us.

"The door?! Where's the door gone?!"

Peyton looks up toward where the Tardis doors should and always have been. "That's not good." She quickly walks around the console, trying to find her sonic pen as she hears Clara run toward the blank wall where the doors should be and slam her palm against it frustratedly.

"This isn't fair! You can't do this!" She yells up at the Tardis.

"Keep your voice down!" Peyton hisses at her. "We're never going to find my sonic in here."

"That's your priority?" Clara whisper yells at her. "Not the fact that the doors are gone and there's some creepy monster running around trying to kill us!"

"Well I'll be able to address both of those things when I get my sonic!" Peyton turns away from her in a huff before grabbing the flight deck railing to swing herself onto the lower floor.

Landing with a thud she sighs, she had just begun to think Clara was becoming even a little less insufferable.

She looks around the debris, kicking over bits of pipe and console with her foot but she can seem to find her pen anywhere.

"No sight of it up here," Clara announces. Well, at least she's been keeping herself useful.

"Right," Peyton rubs her temples trying to think up a plan on the spot. The original plan was just to find the console room again but she had not anticipated to run into a brick wall here, or rather a metal one. "Let's go back, we have to find the Doctor. I just have to think of where he'll be."

"Going back out there, with the monsters?" Clara asks as Peyton makes her way to the corridor leading into the Tardis.

"Do _you_ have a better plan?" Peyton asks, pausing to turn and look up at her on the flight deck.

Clara doesn't answer, but simply folds her arms and trots down the stairs to join Peyton.

The blonde woman peers out into the hallway where no sign of any strange monsters from the depths of the Tardis nor the Doctor himself can be seen before stepping out and heading to the left.

"Before, when you said that nothing could get through the Tardis doors, did you mean that those _things_ have to have come from inside the Tardis?" Clara asks as they leave slowly.

"That seems to be the only other option," Peyton says.

"Why would the Doctor have murderous, creepy, zombie things on the Tardis?"

Peyton doesn't have an answer to that, so she doesn't give her one. Instead, she keeps moving through the machine.

After a barely a minute of walking had past, Peyton turns a corner to suddenly stop, looking up at the console room through the same exit they took.

"That's weird," Clara mutters, looking back and forth. "I swear I was keeping track of where we were going."

"Come on," Peyton mumbles, turning to walk away but at the last minute, shooting a look over her shoulder to the console room.

The two walk back through the Tardis for barely thirty seconds before they find themselves back where they were, starting up at the damaged time machine.

This time, Peyton doesn't give Clara time to complain as she storms off, determined to get away from the console room. However, the Tardis seems to have other ideas.

"Why is it doing this?" Clara asks as she runs up the stairs to the flight deck and throws herself down into the seat by the controls.

"The Tardis must want us to be here," Peyton shakes her head, at a loss for a real answer.

"You said that before in that room with all the stuff and we ran into monsters who _you_ said couldn't get in!" Clara fires back frustratedly.

Before Peyton can raise her voice back to her, some debris falls off the console unit. Both women stare at it. It wasn't like anything was teetering on the edge, it is almost like it was pushed.

"Oh," Peyton realises, her eyes going wide. "I see, I knew we were here for a reason."

"What? What is it?" Clara frowns.

"The console room is the safest place on the Tardis," Peyton explains, beginning to pace back and forth. "But the Tardis can manipulate itself, the rooms are never fixed. The Tardis made us a new, shadow, console room to keep us safe. The smart girl has probably even temporally shifted us to exactly where the real console room is. But obviously, you can't have two rooms in the same place, so we must be a fraction of a second out of sync with the real console room and _that_ happened in the real console room, which means the Doctor is here right now!"

"How can the Doctor be _here_ ," Clara gestures around. "Explain it in normal human words?"

Peyton rolls her eyes. "Imagine a little paper flipbook, every second page is a different colour. We're simply on a different piece of paper to the Doctor. That explains why my sonic isn't here. But it would be mighty helpful if it was, then I might be able to get the Tardis' help to stabilise and merge our rooms."

Clara gets to her feet and starts moving around the console. "Well, if neither of you are going to be any help, I'm going to at least try something."

"What are you doing, stay here, the Tardis will get us to him," Peyton frowns after her.

She doesn't listen, however. Walking down to the closed doors and pressing the button for them to open before looking up at Peyton with a worried looking in her eye.

"Clara, look out!" Peyton yells as, beyond the doors, the creature is revealed standing threateningly.

Clara looks back to the monster and screams before sprinting up to join Peyton by the controls but the monster quickly follows.

Clinging close to Peyton, they find themselves at a stalemate with the creature, at opposite points of the hexagonal control unit.

"What do we do?" Clara asks. "What is that thing? Why is it looking at me like that?"

"I don't know!" Peyton says through gritted teeth. She looks down at the controls before her and starts pulling at them but the machine seems to be dead to her touch.

The creature lunges at the two of them, forcing them to scarper back towards where the door should be. Great, now they're trapped in a corner.

Peyton shoves Clara behind her as best she can as the creature extends a hand out toward them, she can feel it's heat from there.

"I'm sorry," Peyton blurts. She didn't expect it, but she does mean it.

The two scream as the creature's hand comes closer and closer until the heat disappears.

Peyton opens her eyes to see the Doctor and two strangers in the console room who definitely weren't there a second ago, and most relievingly, no sign of the monster.

"Hello there, ladies," the Doctor walks forward and wraps an arm around each of them. "Good to see you again."

"What are those things?" Peyton demands, pushing the Doctor away from her. "Tell me what they are!"

"Or 'thank you' as we used to say," the Doctor sighs.

"What do you keep in here?" Clara joins her, punching the Doctor in the chest so he backs off. "Why have you got zombie creatures? Good guys do not have zombie creatures. Rule one, basic storytelling!"

"Can we not do this in front of the guests?" The Doctor tries.

"Who are they?" Peyton points while frowning up at the Doctor. One of the men waves.

"Friends," the Doctor puts his hands on his hips. "Well, people who aren't trying to kill us, so I don't need punching again!" He raises his voice at that last part as Clara shoots him a furious look.

"All right, all right," one of the men dressed in heavy gear steps forward. "You got the girls back. Now cancel the self destruct."

"Self destruct!" Peyton pushes the Doctor's chest, glaring up at him in disbelief. "Are you actually insane!?"

"Ow," the Doctor says in a tone more annoyed than hurt. He grabs her by the shoulders and moves her behind him with Clara before leaning forward and placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "And, you. You know, I've got to tell you, I won't be needing you on my quiz team."

"What?" The man frowns.

"The is no self-destruct!" The Doctor cheers as if this was the funniest joke. The men in front of him's faces drop and Peyton understands exactly what he did. He threatened to blow them up unless they helped him find Clara and herself. Clever, cruel and completely overdramatic, but clever. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Had you going though, boys, didn't I? I just wigged a few buttons. The old wiggly-button truck. And the face, you've got to do the face. 'Save them or we all die'. I thought I'd rushed it a bit."

"So you're telling us we're safe?" The other man clarifies.

"Ish. Apart from the monsters and the Tardis reinventing the architecture every five minutes," the Doctor shrugs. "Guys, don't worry, the countdown's a fake. Look, just give me a second, I'll turn it off." The Doctor goes to the console and behind flipping switches. "I only made it look as though the engine was actually exploding."

Alarms blare through the console room and Peyton takes a shaky breath. "I'm going to assume that's not good."

She walks beside the Doctor and looks down at the screen where the ships internal schematics (if you can call them that) flash red and large letters warn that the engine has overloaded.

On a brighter note, something buzzes underneath Pyton's foot as she presses her weight down into it. When she looks down she sees the familiar sleek design of her sonic pen lying in the debris.

"Doctor," she looks up at him frightened after picking up her sonic.

"Okay, don't panic, or maybe panic," he says way too calmly as he picks up the monitor and inspects it closer.

"Something you two want to share with the rest of us?" Clara asks almost boredly.

"It appears the engine is damaged," the Doctor says as if the thing just had a dent in it.

"Translation; we're in trouble," Peyton continues, looking up to Clara and then to the two mechanic looking guys. "Doctor, we need to get down there right now or the monsters aren't going to get the chance to try to kill us."

The Doctor nods before dashing off down the stairs below the console and Peyton is quick to jump on his trail.

"So now would be a good time to use that big friendly button, right?" Clara calls after them.

"Yes, sorry, I should have had one built in," the Doctor apologises, heading over to the hexagonal panels on the wall and pointing his sonic at one of them.

"Where are we going?" One of the mechanics asks, catching up.

"Detour," Peyton says, rather impressed when the panel folds away, revealing a small crawl space.

"To where exactly?" Clara asks by her side.

"To the centre of the Tardis."

• • •

Peyton catches her breath as the group slows back down to walking pace. They had been walking through the cramped corridors for only a few minutes before they had discovered that the monsters had followed them in there as well.

"This is crazy, this is actually crazy," the man who had introduced himself to Clara and Peyton as Gregor says, standing close to his robot brother Tricky.

"Shh!" The Doctor turns to him with a finger pressed to his lips, but they keep moving.

Peyton looks back to them and frowns. "Doctor, where's Clara?"

The Doctor whips his head back and forth before he turns pale. "Stay here," he motions to Tricky and Gregor before dashing off.

Peyton follows, not particularly wanting to have babysitting duty and also moved by the unexpected dread for Clara's safety that has arisen in her chest.

The two Time Lords crane their necks to look down every adjacent corridor as they wander through, trying to both not be murdered and to find Clara who hopefully hasn't been.

"Clara, stop!" The Doctor yells as he turns sharply to the left. "Don't touch it."

Peyton joins him to see Clara not too far away and up ahead, another Doctor, shaking his head and pacing.

She looks between both Doctor's curiously, unable to figure out what is happening.

"There's a rupture in time somewhere on board the ship," the Doctor explains. "A small tear in the fabric of the continuum. It must have happened when the Tardis was pulled in by the salvage vessel. The Tardis is leaking."

He grabs Clara by the hand and pulls her in the opposite direction, back the way he and Peyton came.

"Leaking what?" Clara says as Peyton takes up the rear.

"The past. Us. Everything we've done, everything we've said. Recent history. It's not real, it's a memory."

The three round a corner and are stopped by the sight of one of the monsters looming ahead.

"And what about him?" Peyton glares at him.

"If you're giving me the option, I'd say this one's real," the Doctor whispers.

With a roar, the creature charges forward and the time travellers make no hesitation in turning on their heels and sprinting away.

• • •

"What's that noise?" Clara asks after the creature had been lured away by one of the memories of them.

"We're right under the primary fuel cells," the Doctor replies quietly.

"So, so, so what?"

"So... so the fuel has spilled out," he continues. "So the rods will be exposed. Means they'll cool..."

"And start to warp," Clara nods.

"And start to warp," Peyton confirms, "and maybe even..."

"No, don't say it. Don't you dare say it."

"Maybe even break apart," she finishes.

In front of them, mere inches from their faces, a metal rod pierces through the wall and into the other within a blink of an eye. If they were even one step closer, they would have made a fine kebab.

"Run?" Peyton offers.

"I'm liking how you're thinking," the Doctor agrees.

• • •

"Cut it off. Just cut my arm off!" Tricky's metallic voice resonates off the walls of the corridor as the time travellers approach.

"No!" Gregor yells, trying to pull a metal rod from where it had pinned his brother to the wall by his shoulder.

"It's the quickest way to release me. No fear, no hate, no pain. I can get a new one. Disposable parts, just do it! It won't hurt me."

"Tricky, you don't understand."

"Oh, my stars," Clara gasps as she sees the man pinned to the wall.

"I'm an android. Cut me! What's the matter with you? Why won't you cut me?"

The Doctor steps forward and tries to help Gregor pull the rod from Tricky's shoulder, all the while glaring at him accusingly.

"Tell him," he says, stepping back.

"Tell me what?" Tricky groans in pain.

Androids can't feel pain. Nor can they have human siblings. Peyton's mind clicks as she looks between Tricky and Gregor.

"You can't, can you? You're a coward," she says, her grey eyes locked onto him, disgust laced in her tone. "You won't save him, but you're scared to tell him why."

"What's she going on about?" Tricky winces.

"Robots don't need blast suits. They don't need respirators," Peyton says, anger boiling in her chest and her voice climbs in volume. "They don't get frightened of monsters in the dark!"

"What's she talking about?" Tricky looks up as his brother pleadingly as Peyton pulls out her sonic pen and scans him, the blue light illuminating his face.

"Two bionic eyes and a synthetic voice box," she laughs sarcastically as she reads her pen. "But you, sir, are plain old human. Flesh and blood!"

A tight grip on her wrist tugs her backwards and away from Tricky.

"It was just a joke..." Gregor says in a soft voice as Peyton looks up to see the Doctor's dark eyes glaring down at her, furious. She pants as her heart rates return to normal and the Doctor slowly loosens his vice-like grip on her wrist. "It was just a stupid joke. We did it to relieve the boredom."

Peyton sees Clara out of the corner of her eye, watching her wild-eyed and horrified look on her face. That anger, it had just come out of nowhere. But, it wasn't just anger, there was something else there too. A glimmer of excitement. Excitement that the truth was going to come out and the two brothers may just tear each other to shreds. Now that she's calmer, the fact that she was thinking that scares her. What is happening to her?

"Well," the Doctor says cynically looking between Tricky and Peyton with a conflicted expresion. "It was very funny. They lied to you. Changed your identity. Just to provide some inflight entertainment!"

"I'm sorry," Gregor says. "You're human, Tricky."

"Cut the metal," the Doctor instructs but Gregor doesn't move. "Cut the metal, go!"

• • •

"Where are we?" Gregor asks as the Doctor crouches to peer into the porthole of a door, brilliant orange light spilling out of it.

"The power source. Right, you lot, wait here. I'll check it's safe. We can only survive for a minute or two in there."

"Doctor, I'm coming with you," Peyton protests.

"Nope, stay here please," the Doctor replies, still looking into the room.

Clara taps Peyton on the shoulder. "Um... what happens if we stay longer?"

"Our cells will liquefy and our skin will start to burn," Peyton explains nonchalantly. "It's a big ship Clara, it takes more than diesel."

"I always feel so good after we've spoken," she sighs.

"Okay, keep this door shut, I'll see you in a bit," the Doctor says, pulling it open.

"That will not be a problem," Clara responds.

With a thud, the door slams closed and Peyton watches the Doctor walk along the car walk around the eye of harmony.

" _Gloucestershire. Hybrid; human and... unidentified,_ " an electronic female voice breaks the silence. Peyton turns to see Gregor pointing a scanner at her, looking down at it curiously. He then turns it to Clara. " _Lancashire. Sass_."

"Intelligent sensor," he explains as Clara pulls a face.

"Ever pointed that thing at yourself, Gregor? What would it see?" Tricky snarls, holding his injured shoulder. "What sort of person does this to another human? Made them believe that they're made of metal?" Gregor walks off in a huff but Tricky grabs his arm. "Who am I?"

Clara and Peyton share a look, very much wishing they had followed the Doctor into the sauna of death right about now.

• • •

"Tricky, listen to me!" The Doctor says as he barrels out of the room, thrusting himself between the two brothers just as they are about to claw at the other. "Ask yourself why he couldn't cut you up. He has just one tiny scrap of decency left in him. You just helped him find that, okay?" He turns to the other brother. "Now you. Don't ever forget this."

He lets the both of them go and steps back.

"Now, everyone. Do you trust me?"

"Uh-huh," Clara answers hesitantly.

"On and off," Peyton sighs.

"No," both the salvagers say.

"Right we'll, we've got to make it through there, it's the only way to get to the engine. We walk through, don't stop, and leave, got it?"

"Well, it seems almost easy when you say it like that," Clara says, trying to lighten the mood. It doesn't work.

"Alright everyone, okay," he pushes open the door. "Move! Move move!"

The sweltering heat hits Peyton immediately, making her almost wish her wardrobe consisted of something other than sweatshirts and jeans. Peyton squints up at the literal star in the room as it threatens to fry her alive. The sooner they get through here the better.

"The Eye of Harmony," the Doctor explains. "Exploding star in the act of becoming a black hole. Time Lord engineering. You rip the star from its orbit, suspend it in a permanent state of decay."

"Doctor, we don't have time for this!" Peyton yells at him.

"Right, yes, this way. Quickly."

The Doctor runs ahead and pulls open the heavy metal door only to reveal that one of the monsters had beaten them there. He slams it closed again while the monster slams its fist upon the window.

Gregory and Tricky take the note and sprint back toward the other door but when they open it, there's a monster waiting there as well. They're trapped.

"There's no way out. We're trapped!" Peyton yells as she feels Clara grab a hold of her hand.

"You're going to tell me right now!" Clara screams at the Doctor as he looks between the two doors, himself scared. "If we're going to die in here, tell me what they are!"

"I can't," the Doctor says, his face lost and his words true.

"What do you mean? There's no use for secrets now!" Peyton shouts. "Tell us what they are!"

"Secrets protect us. Secrets make us safe!" The Doctor insists, placing a hand on his companion's cheeks.

"We're not safe!" Peyton says, pushing him away and pulling Clara back with her. "I've been patient with you, I'm sure you have you're reasons but she's right, we're going to die, and you're going to tell us what is going to kill us!"

" _Sensor detects animal DNA,"_ Gregors' scanner announces. Peyton turns to see him pointing it at the monster banging on the door. " _Human core element. Calculating data. Calculating data."_

"No, no! Turn it off!" The Doctor yells, sprinting over to them. But before he reaches them, the devices offers its final verdict.

" _Lancashire. Sass. Identifiable substance. Clara._ "

Peyton feels Clara's hand lose its grip in hers. Her expression is like nothing Peyton had to her seen her wear before. But she's seen that same look a thousand times on a thousand different faces.

Tricky and Gregor race past the two girls who stay rooted to the spot, watching the Doctor look so sadly back at them

"That's me," Clara says, slowly walking toward him but staring past to her burned and molten body.

"I'm so sorry," the Doctor falters.

Clara continues to walk past him and right up to the door. Peyton shoots a look behind her. It doesn't take a genius like her to figure out who the other creatures are.

"It's me, I burn in here," Clara realises, her voice fragile and broken.

"It isn't just the past leaking out the time rift," Peyton says, piecing the puzzle together. "It's also the future."

"Listen," the Doctor grabs Clara's hand and pulls her away from the door, placing his hands on either side of her neck. "We brought you here to keep you safe, but it happened again. You died again."

"What do you mean, again?" Clara says, perhaps more frightened now than before, looking to Peyton for help as sweat drips down their brows.

The Doctor places his head in his hands and walks away. He makes eye contact with Peyton and she realises that he really does not know what to do.

Peyton turns on the spot, looking toward the two men holding the other door closed before back to the Doctor and Clara. Finally, she looks up into the Wye of Harmony. "Doctor!" She yells out, the seedlings of a plan sprouting in her mind. "If we can interrupt the timeline, none of this can happen."

The Doctor's eyes spark with hope for a second and Peyton takes this as confirmation to go on.

"You two!" She runs over to Gregor and Tricky and grabs a hold of their arms. "Come to the middle!"

"You're going to let it in!" Clara yells.

The monster stumbles in, one of its hands stuck to its face. It staggers toward the group who all try to inch away from it

"Gregor! Gregor!" The Doctor calls. "Let go of the circuit!"

The creature grabs a hold of Gregor's backpack, dragging its holder back with it.

"Just let it go!" Tricky shouts at his brother as the Doctor holds him back.

Gregor shrugs off the backpack which the monster drops into the abyss around them and the Doctor lunges for him and pulls him back.

In one motion, Tricky grabs a metal pipe that was strapped to his brother's back and steps forward to smack the creature, causing it to topple over the railing and fall out of sight.

Together, the band run forward to the door but as they do, a conjoined monster appears, two people fused together.

With incredible speed, everyone doubles back on themselves and head to the other door but the dead Clara breaks through the glass window and another monster appears behind her.

In the middle of the catwalk, the Eye of Harmony beating down on them while their future selves attack from both sides. Peyton loses hope that they're going to get out of this one.

With a great battle cry, Tricky runs ahead and raises his weapon and begins to beat the conjoined monster to the ground. As it lands on its back he kicks it over into the bright abyss below but he loses his footing and falls over the edge.

"Aaahh!" Tricky grips the edge of the platform with only his hands.

Gregor is quickly to lean down to help him up.

"No! Don't touch him!" The Doctor warns as Gregor pulls him up. "Time will reassert itself!"

Gregor pulls tricky to his feet and helps him lean on him. But as they do, both men scream out in pain and Peyton realises that it's them who are the conjoined monsters. They run.

• • •

"We're outside?"

"No, we're still in the Tardis," Peyton shakes her head as she takes long and steadying breaths. She looks down into the foggy abyss and into the darkness ahead. Nothing seems to exist except this small rocky outcrop.

"There's no way across," Clara points out.

"No, okay. You're right."

"So what do we do? Time for a plan, do either of you have a plan?"

"Well, no. No plan, sorry," the Doctor grimaces. Clara looks to Peyton.

"I had the last plan!" She protests.

"If we don't have a plan, we're dead!" Clara says, stepping back from the edge and dropping the Doctor's hand.

"Yes. We are," the Doctor says, turning to look down at her. "So just tell me. Just tell us."

"Tell you what?" Clara blinks.

"Well, there's no point now, we're about to die, just tell us who you are."

Peyton looks down to Clara expectantly as she looks between the two Time Lords, incredibly confused.

"You know who I am."

"No we don't!" The Doctor says. "I look at you every single day, and I don't understand a thing about you. Why do we keep running into you?"

The Doctor storms off to pace.

"Doctor, you invited me. Peyton help me here. You said-"

"Before that. We met you in the Dalek Asylum. There was a girl in a shipwreck and she died saving our lives and she was you!"

"She really wasn't," Clara argues.

"Victorian London. There was a governess who was really a barmaid, and we fought the Great Intelligence together, she died, and it was my fault. And she was you!"

"You're scaring me," Clara says, her voice quavering.

"Doctor," Peyton warns. As Clara steps back from him, precariously close to the edge.

"What are you, eh?" The Doctor raises his voice, stepping forward toward her. "Are you a trick, a trap?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

Clara takes another step back but her foot never finds the ground. Thankfully Peyton's lightning-fast reflexes push her to reach out and pull the girl close to her chest and away from the edge.

Clara breaths heavily in her arms but Peyton lets her go just as quickly and puts herself between the Doctor and Clara.

"That," she prods him in the chest with her finger aggressively. "Was _way_ out of line. What the hell do you think you're doing."

The Doctor immediately snaps out of his anger and his face softens. "You're right, I'm so, so sorry, Clara."

"I think I'm more scared of you right now than anything else on that Tardis," she says, one hand balled in the back of Peyton's sweatshirt.

"You're just Clara, aren't you?" He smiles. "You really don't know anything, do you?"

The Doctor steps forward beside Peyton and pulls Clara into a tight hug.

"Okay, I don't know what the hell this is about, but the hug is really nice."

Peyton peers over the edge and watches as she kicks a small stone over the edge, but even before it reaches the fog, it disappears.

"We're not going to die here," she says, looking back up at the Doctor and Clara, who separate and look at her curiously.

"This isn't real."

"It's a snarl!" The Doctor smiles, picking up a stone and tossing it into the fog.

"A what?" Clara frowns.

"What does a wounded animal do? It tries to scare everyone always." The Doctor explains. "We're close to the engine. The Tardis is snarling at us, trying to frighten us off. We need to jump."

"You're insane!" Clara shakes her head.

"Just picking up on that now?" Peyton supplies sarcastically.

"We'll cross a portal to the engine," the Doctor says, backing up from the edge.

"How can you be so sure?" Clara asks.

"We can't," Peyton grimaces.

"Okay, well then, that's watertight," Clara quips.

"Hey, now, Clara," the Doctor says grabbing her hand. Peyton grabs her other one. "I've piloted this ship for over nine hundred years. Trust me this one time please."

Both girls give him a raised eyebrow.

"Okay, as well as all the other times. Ready?" They both nod. "Geronimo."

Peyton runs as fast as she can toward the edge before leaping off with a scream, clasping Clara's hand tight.

Sooner than she expects, her sneakers make contact with a floor and she looks around. As far as the eye can see, there is only white. Except for the metallic debris, suspended in mid air, as if an explosion had been frozen in time.

"The heart of the Tardis," the Doctor says as Peyton drops Clara's hand.

"The engine," she says, stepping forward into the mess. "It's already exploded. It must have been the collision with the salvage ship."

"We're not dead," Clara notices.

"She wrapped her hands around the force," the Doctor hypothesises. "Froze it."

"So... so it's safe?"

"Temporary fix," he says. "Eventually, this whole place will erupt. There's no way I can save her now."

They continue walking through the suspended debris, the Doctor nervously playing with his hands and keeping his head bowed low. "She's just always been there for me, taken care if me. And now it's my turn and I don't know what to do. I... it just. "

Peyton steps forward and takes his hand, rubbing her thumb over the back of it. They'll get through this they'll think of something. They have to.

Clara grabs his other hand and Peyton frowns for a second. Wouldn't that be her burnt hand?

The Doctor slowly pulls her hand up and slips his left out of Peyton's to unfurl Clara's fingers and look down into her palm.

"Oh, Clara, oh," he says, in a barely audible voice but a smile spreading across his lips. "You are beautiful."

Peyton steps closer to see what he is looking at. In her palm are letters, printed back to front and much more visible than it was in the library. The Doctor places a hand on the side of Clara's face.

"Beautiful, fragile human skin," he presses a kiss to her palm before curling it back up. "Like parchment, thank you."

He steps away from her and fishes his sonic out of his pants pocket. "The rift in time. All the memories leaking out. I need to find the moment we crashed. I need to find..." the Doctor sets his sonic and unfamiliar rock music starts playing around them. "... the music."

They start running back through the Tardis engines until they find the door back into the Tardis. Back they go through the corridors until they reach the console room, following the Doctor's sonic. The three of them dash down the stairs under the flight deck until they spot a vertical crack in the wall, white time energy spilling out of it.

"The time rift," the Doctor says. "Recent past. Possible future."

"What are you going to do?" Clara asks.

"Rewrite today, I hope," he picks up something from the ground and tossing it to Peyton. "I've thrown this through the rift before. I need to make sure this time. Going to take it in there myself. There might be a certain amount of yelling."

"It's going to hurt?"

"Clara, he's about to poke his thread through the fabric of the universe, really basic stuff," Peyton sneers. "Doctor, what am I doing with this?"

"Frequency 738a, etch in a message. 'Big friendly button'."

Peyton nods and gets to work with her sonic.

"Doctor, all that stuff you said," Clara begins as Peyton works at the tail of the 'g'. "How we met before, how I died..."

"Clara, don't worry. You'll forget," the Doctor says. "Time mends us. It can mend anything. You too, Peyton, I'm afraid."

"What if I don't want to forget," Clara says. "Not all of it. The library, I saw it. You were mentioned in a book."

"I'm mentioned in a lot of books," the Doctor says, looking over at Peyton who is just finishing her work.

"You call yourself Doctor. Why do you do that?" Clara asks as he walks away. "You have a name. I've seen it. In one corner of that tiny-"

The Doctor rushes forward to place a finger against her lips as Peyton tucks her sonic away, looking between the Doctor and Clara.

The Doctor's name. Peyton doesn't even know it, not for lack of trying. When she had read 'The History of the Time War' the Doctor had always been there with her, maybe even steering her away from that page without her noticing.

"If I rewrite today, you won't remember. You won't go looking for my name. Either of you."

"You'll still have secrets," Clara sighs.

"Better that way," he shakes his head, turning to Peyton who offers him the device.

"Good luck," she grimaces.

Together Peyton and Clara watch the Doctor walk up to the tear and pump himself up before sticking his head through the gap and screaming.

Peyton's hand finds Clara's.

**and now to throw all that character development out the window! we love memory wipes.**


	44. The Day Peyton Took Charge

"No," Peyton says firmly, folding her arms.

"Peyton!" The Doctor gesticulates. "It's a great idea!"

"Uh, no. No, it's not," Peyton says, folding her arms and leaning back against the bank of Tardis controls by the railing. "I'm not doing it."

"Can you just listen to me?" The Doctor sighs, walking around the console to her. "She picks a place, I drop you both there and you two can finally get to know eachother."

"And what if something happens?" Peyton reasons with an eye roll. "I don't want to be responsible for her life."

"So we'll put you on Earth!" The Doctor twirls back around the console. "A safe year, there's plenty of those."

"And what are you going to do?"

"Oh, I'll stay here! I'll throw the Tardis up into orbit and then you give me a call when you're best friends and I'll come back down and get you."

Peyton glares at him across the flight deck. "Why are trying so hard to get me to like her?"

"Why aren't you trying at all?!" He fires back, slamming his hands down on the console.

Peyton doesn't say anything, looking away with a huff. She knows she doesn't have a concrete answer, or at least not one that doesn't sound slightly childish.

"It would mean a lot to me for you to get along," the Doctor says softly, his voice thick with regret for shouting at her. "She really wants you both to get along as much as I do. And I think you're only pushing her away cause you're scared to leave yourself open to lose anyone else."

Peyton freezes, not expecting him to say anything like that. The two have a history of being indirect with one another, especially regarding such sensitive matters as this. She looks up at him and realises how tired he looks. Those hazel eyes are dark and heavy, the weight of many years and so much more loss than Peyton could fathom. Her arms drop from her chest and she tries to form something to say, an arguement or anything else.

The Doctor takes a long breath. "I think it would really help you to let your fear go, and just, try."

"Okay," Peyton concedes with a fragile voice. "I'll try to be less defensive around her. I can't promise you I'm going to be her best friend."

"Thank you," he walks around toward Peyton again. "I know it's hard, but you have to let yourself be vulnerable with her, for yourself."

Peyton bites her lip, uncomfortable at the Doctor's words. Deep down she knows he's right, because when isn't he? But the wounds in her soul still ache and burn. No matter what he says is going to fix that. Maybe she's just stubborn, maybe she's just argumentative, but Peyton sighs before looking up to the Doctor. "Okay."

Without warning, the Doctor's long arms wrap around her shoulders and hold her close. Reluctantly, she brings her own arms up to the Doctor's back and steadies herself. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to have other friends than just you."

The Doctor pulls away with a concerned frown.

"No, it was a joke," Peyton reassures him with a soft chuckle. "I have work friends, but they're not you, you know?" She punches him lightly in the bicep.

"Good," he smiles. "And it will do you good to have a boring, relaxing break, you know. Keep your stress low."

"What's wrong with my stress level? I'm not stressed," Peyton frowns at him.

"I, er, uh..." the Doctor splutters, evidently he had not meant to add that last part. "You just seem a little... tense. Lately."

Peyton's mind rolls back to the Russian submarine, her chat with the empath, and one rather intense game of chess with Benjamin Franklin.

Her anger had been out of line lately, she'll admit that. And maybe she is taking it out on Clara a lot as well.

"You might have a point," Peyton concedes.

"Okay, Peyton," he nods, patting her once on the cheek before spinning away to the controls. "Let's pick up our Impossible Girl."

• • •

Peyton rubs her waist through the tight corset, wondering how she was talked into wearing it.

"You two look lovely," the Doctor beams as his two companions return from the wardrobe dressed in fine Victorian dresses.

"I feel like I'm going to suffocate," Peyton complains, walking up the steps to the flight deck after Clara.

"Oh, I didn't tie it that tight," Clara says, twirling around the console, looking down at the dress as it lifts up gently. "I'm still sad you didn't let me do your hair."

Peyton reaches up to the back of her head where she had just pinned two pieces of hair back, incredibly simple compared to Clara's extravagant curled hairstyle. "Right, still not used to the whole dressing up thing."

"So, what are you two going to be up to?" The Doctor asks, preparing the Tardis for flight. "Spot of shopping? Picnic by the Thames? Try not to flirt with the nobility, nothing but trouble these days."

"I've always loved the idea of Victorian England," Clara smiles, running her fingers along the console. Peyton doesn't miss the side-eye the Doctor sends Clara's way. "The innovation, the poets, the dresses."

"Well, a week in yee olde London with Peyton coming right up," the Doctor says. "Just what the Doctor ordered."

"You sure you're not coming," Clara pouts, placing a hand on the Doctor's forearm.

"Oh, no, I'll let you two enjoy yourself alone. Go off and do... young things, I don't know. You don't want grandpa cramping your style," the Doctor flicks his coat back before placing his hands on his hips. "I was actually just invited to a little get together with the Queen of Salvarsania so I'll drop you and dash."

Clara grins excitedly toward Peyton who sends back a forced smile. This will be fine. Surely, what could go wrong?

The Doctor pulls the Tardis into a landing and the three of them rush over to the doors.

"Okay," the Doctor says as he leaves the Tardis. "So... not London 1893. Yorkshire 1893. Near enough."

"You're making a habit of this," Clara folds her arms. "Getting us lost."

"Sorry, it's much better than it used to be," the Doctor apologises. "I once spent a hell of a long time trying to get a hobby Australian to Heathrow Airport."

"Doctor, what are we supposed to do in _Yorkshire_ ," Peyton complains.

"Catch a steam train!" The Doctor replies as if this would be the most exciting activity ever. He steps over and tosses some small coins to Peyton. "Money for the fare. Now, you two run off, have fun, not too much fun and I'll meet you back here in a week?"

"Doc-"

Peyton doesn't bother as the Doctor runs back inside the box and she watches it disappear with Clara at her side.

"Right, this is exciting," Clara says rubbing her hands together. "How about that train?"

From somewhere a few streets away perhaps, a high pitched scream rings out. Clara looks up at Peyton with excited eyes.

"No," Peyton glares down at her. This is supposed to be a murder mystery, alien incursion, death free holiday.

"Come on, please? I thought it was your job to fly around and save people," Clara pouts.

A glimmer of curiosity in Peyton's mind flickers to life. She's right. Of course, she's right. "Fine. We'll make it quick."

With a cheeky smile, Clara grabs fistfuls of the front of her dress and dashed off in the direction of the woman's wailing.

They soon come to the embankment of the River Aire and see a small crowd gathered by the barrier.

"It's another one!" A man cries out, being restrained by a police officer. "Don't you see? Another victim. Why won't any one of you listen?"

"We'll listen," Peyton says, tucking her hands inside her skirt pockets.

• • •

"Mrs Winifred Gillyflower. Astonishing woman," Mr Collins explains as he leads Peyton and Clara to the gates of this so-called 'Sweetville'. "A prize-winning chemist and mechanical engineer. So why-"

"So why has she decided to open up a match factory in her old home town?" Peyton proposes as she peers through the wrought iron bars.

"And no one who ever goes to live there ever seems to come out."

"Not at all ominous," Clara scoffs.

"Thank you, Mr Collins," Peyton nods. "You've been very helpful. Now, that body in the river, would you know where to point two ladies in search of a mortician?"

• • •

"Same as the rest," the mortician's assistant says, as his master peels back the thin sheet covering his patient's face. "All dead from causes unknown and their flesh... glowing."

"Like something manky in a coal cellar," the mortician adds.

Peyton adjusts her gloves carefully before leaning over for a closer look. She had paid her and Clara's train fare to get in here, the owner wasn't keen on having two young women snooping around his business.

The woman on the table's skin is bright red and rock hard, her brown eyes staring lifeless lay at the ceiling.

"They keep turning up in't canal," the mortician says. "The Crimson Horror!"

"The Crimson Horror," Peyton repeats. "A tad fantastical, don't you think?"

"I think it's pretty enticing, like something straight out of an old Sherlock Holmes novel," Clara says.

Peyton takes another look at the woman's face, specifically the eyes. Those crystal eyes, but there is something else there, a faint shape like a shadow over her irises.

"Do you know the old Romani superstition, Clara?" Peyton murmurs. "That the eye of a dead person retains an image of the last thing it sees? Nonsense, of course. Unless the chemical composition of the body has been massively corrupted.

With a gloved finger, Peyton traces the woman's cheekbone and sees that her skin leaves red residue upon her cloth glove. Perfect,

• • •

"Wow, I mean, my goodness this is nasty," Peyton says, swirling a beaker of red solution in front of her face. "An organic poison. A sort of venom. You reckon this is related to Sweetville and the rather candy-apple cadavers?"

"How does a respectable woman such as yourself become an organic chemist?" The Mortician's assistant, who had since introduced himself as Mr Walker says scrutinisingly from the corner of the room, not at all answering her question.

He receives poignant glares from both Clara and Peyton, God she hates being in the past without the Doctor. Clara dutifully sold a beautiful gold bangle for the rights to use the room and equipment for Peyton's experiments which are currently laid out over several tables.

"I heard the University of London is accepting _women_ now," he continues with unnecessary spite behind the word woman. "What's next, a woman Doctor?"

Peyton sighs. Today is not the day to punch a Victorian snob who genuinely just doesn't know better. "Mr Walker, do you believe this to be connected to Sweetville?"

"I do," he says curtly.

"Well, then, we need a plan, I'm pretty good with plans."

• • •

"It says here you're sisters?" Mrs Gillyflower says, glancing between the two women in front of her. "Miss and Miss Barrett."

"Yes," Peyton nods. They had spent two hours in the line for a meeting with Mrs Gillyflower after a stressful night with both Clara and Peyton crammed into one bed, apparently, people were coming from all over to apply for Sweetville and the hotel business is booming.

Mrs Gillyflower's concerned expression is not something she was expecting.

"Half sisters," Clara adds sweetly in a fairly decent Yorkshire accent. "My mother died when I was small and my father soon remarried."

Peyton shoots a brief glare out the corner of her eye to Clara who continues to smile most innocently. To be fair, it's a good cover story, but something in Peyton's argumentative brain wants to make some sort of snark at her. She is older anyway, why does Clara get to be the older sister?

"Well, girls," Mrs Gillyflower smiles contently, tucking the paper away. "You'll do very nicely."

• • •

"Sweetville will provide you with everything you will need," Mrs Gillyflower says as she leads the two around the gardens.

"Why do you get to be the older sister," Peyton hisses toward Clara, looking at the back of the old woman's head to make she doesn't notice.

"You won't have to worry about a thing... ever again."

"You really do find any excuse to be annoyed with me, don't you," Clara huffs, her voice low as well.

"I'm a century old, I've earned it!"

"The best of the best for all my residents."

"The Doctor said you were born in 2008 and travelled back in time to '95. I was born 1986, so I'm either three or twenty-two years older than you. Take your pick," Clara whispers aggressively.

"That's not how it works!" Peyton growls through gritted teeth.

"The name, Sweetville," Clara says to Mrs Gillyflower, ignoring Peyton.

"Yes?"

"Why not name it after yourself? After all, it's your creation."

"It is named in tribute to my partner."

"You're late partner?" Peyton asks.

"No, my... silent partner. Mr Sweet likes to keep himself to himself. Shall we move on?"

Peyton nods awkwardly before looking up to one of the houses they are passing. "Who lives here?"

"Oh, names don't matter here," Gillyflower chuckles. "All you need to know is that we only recruit the brightest and the best."

She pats Clara softly on the cheek before reaching over to open the door.

Peyton turns away from Clara's smug smile and peers into the doorway to see a perfectly pristine sitting room with an enormous bell jar taking up most of the room with two figures frozen inside, posed drinking tea as if they were straight from Madame Tussauds. A pump attached to the glass prison works feverishly to deliver air or maybe poison to its inhabitants while they pay the outside world no mind.

Peyton turns to run but men and women dressed in all black head towards them from all directions. She turns to look back into the room for another escape route but more Victorian ninjas appear from the doorways inside. Oh crap.

• • •

Peyton awakens to something hard under her armpits and scratchy fabric covering her body.

Her eyes snap open to find herself suspended on some sort of rack with five other unconscious souls above a vat of viscous red liquid.

Peyton's breathing quickens as she looks for a way out but her body refuses to move. The last thing she remembers is seeing the oncoming crones and Clara screaming out. They must have drugged them, but clearly didn't account for the higher potency Peyton required.

The rack begins to lower, the vat coming ever closer and closer until Peyton feels her feet become submerged. It's warm and thick but the knowledge that she's probably about to drown ruins any sort of pleasurable feeling it would give her. 

Slowly, her body is engulfed in the fluid and as it reaches her chest, Peyton takes a large gulp of air and tries to angle her head as high up as she can.

• • •

Lying on the floor completely unable to move and still being conscious is not fun.

"Into the canal with the rejects, Ada," Mrs Gillyflower barks.

Peyton can see Clara standing in a row with many other girls, completely frozen as well, but her skin remains porcelain and light compared to Peyton's bright red hue. Evidently Peyton's Time Lord DNA had come in handy once again as the red liquid had not killed her but rather left her somewhere between the porcelain maidens across the room and the waxy patients in the morgue.

Something taps along the stone floor until it hits Peyton in the side. She lets out a small grunt in response.

A person above her lets out a small gasp before rough fingers brush over Peyton's. She tries her best to squeeze the hand, trying to let the person know that she's still alive and would rather not drown in the dirty canal.

• • •

"Sometimes, the preservation process goes wrong," Ada says as she snaps a shackle around Peyton's wrist. Where the hell did she get shackles from? "Only Mr Sweet knows why. And only Mama is allowed to talk to Mr Sweet. But if you're very good, you can stay here. You'll be my secret. My special monster."

• • •

Peyton hits her fist against the door weakly, the pain of moving is nearly unbearable.

Three days she had been here like this, unable to move, unable to speak, and her only company being a peculiar blind girl who brought her small amounts of food. Her 'monster', she calls Peyton. Where the hell is the Doctor?

She falls backward in exhaustion, her shackles clinking against one another. The Doctor won't be back for another two days and Peyton is unsure if she'll even still be alive by then. And Clara, she has no idea if she survived. If she's dead again, the Doctor might just lose it.

Ada keeps referring to those who passed the gooey process as preserved or even saved, Peyton holds onto the hope that whatever state Clara is in, she has survived. 

Someone rattles the door handle. She looks up as best she can but it doesn't open, an intruder. Maybe it's Clara?

She crawls on her front toward the door as the steel hatch is pulled up. Peyton sticks her arm out with as much force as possible to find her hand come into contact with something warm, someone warm.

The intruder shrieks and drops the hatch, giving Peyton barely enough time to pull back before she loses her hand. From the sound of the voice, it's a woman, but not Clara.

"All right, mate," a gruff cockney whisper seeps through the door. "You just stay calm now."

That voice is familiar, but Peyton doesn't have many close friends in Victorian Yorkshire so she's not sure who it could be.

She lifts an arm to bang against the wall in agreement.

"I could open this door. Would you like that?"

Peyton tries a smile but her face doesn't move. Using her torso, she slams her hand into the wall again.

"Thought you might. But you and me had got to come to an arrangement, savvy?"

Another wack and her arm begins to ache.

"Now, you stand well back. Do you hear me? I don't mean no harm to you. But you try anything funny and I'll leave you here to rot. Is that understood?"

Two hits.

"Right."

Peyton tries her best to stand to her feet, her joints unyieldingly straight make it hard to do so. She rocks back and forth for a second until she can get her balance.

The door falls open very slowly until a woman dressed in all black pops her head in. The stranger's eyes raise to meet Peyton's and she recognises the figure. It's been a while since she's seen her, many decades in fact. But how could she forget her tied favourite Victorian lesbian detective?

She stumbles, clearly recognising her as well. "Peyton? What's happened to you?"

Peyton reaches out, unable to close her mouth, but she uses her eyes to look down to the pile of fabric on the floor where her dress lays.

"Can't you speak?"

Peyton groans in reply as Jenny lifts her fingers up to her face. She taps on her crimson cheek and her pale fingers meet the solid surface of her skin.

"Right, we're getting out of here," she gasps, grabbing her hands and picking the locks on her shackles.

• • •

After Jenny had jammed her boots back on Peyton's feet, she leads her down the stairs, her clothing under her arm. It's awkward and painful, Peyton tries her best not to cry out with each movement

"Come on," she whispers as the hallway lift clunks to a stop. Jenny's hand on Peyton's back pushes her to move faster as to not get caught.

They enter the dunking room as Peyton regains some movement in her jaw. They peer through a window into the chamber as a rack of bodies are lowered into the solution.

"Oh, my God," Jenny gasps.

Peyton turns her head away and spies a row of locker like chambers against the wall, the restoration chambers. She strains to pull her arm up to point Jenny toward them, she quickly obliged her.

"You want to go in there?" Jenny asks as Peyton reaches out for the handle as they get closer.

Peyton groans as best she can and Jenny nods, pulling open the door for her.

Peyton steps inside stiffly and tries to bend her elbows as best they can, with much effort, they give and Jenny places her clothes atop them.

Shakily, Peyton reaches into the skirt pocket and retrieves her sonic pen. With a grunt she activates it, pointing it at the ceiling as Jenny closes the doors on her.

• • •

With one last comb through of her hair with her fingers, Peyton pushes open the door to the chamber and steps out into the air.

"Peyton!" Jenny smiles.

"Long time, no see!" Peyton laughs as she pulls Jenny into a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Peyton lets her go and reaches upward and then side to side, stretching out. Getting a corset on in that tiny space was a struggle but she managed it in the end, thankfully the chamber was accomodating enough.

"How did you end up here?" Jenny asks. "Where's the Doctor?"

"Who needs him?" Peyton says while she leans back to crack her back. "It's been a long time since we've seen each other Jenny, I've got everything under control... possibly. Now, right, Mrs Gillyflower! We've got to stop her!"

"Slow down, slow down," Jenny says, raising her hands.

"Sorry, being chained up will do that to you," Peyton shrugs before remembering something rather important. "And then there's Clara. I should probably find her. The Doctor probably wouldn't appreciate a wax model for a companion."

"Clara?" Jenny tilts her head.

"Yeah, I've been told you've met, now, let's go," Peyton turns on her heel and begins to walk off.

"Clara? Peyton, wait!"

"Can't, gotta find Clara or it's the Doctor that's going to kill me, not some cranky old crone from Yorkshire."

• • •

Peyton and Jenny walk carefully and quietly down the corridors of the Sweetville factory.

"What is that stuff, why is it making some people turn red?" Jenny asks.

"Deadly poison," Peyton answers. "And Mrs Gillyflower's been dipping her Pilgrims into a dilute form to protect them. Preserve them. The process went a bit wrong on me, maybe cause I'm a bit not human. I ended up on the reject pile."

"Preserve them against what?"

"Well, according to her, the coming apocalypse," Peyton rolls her eyes as she recalls what the crazy woman had said during her stay on the reject pile.

"When the End of Days is come and judgement rains down upon us all..." Jenny mutters in a distracted sort of voice.

"What?" Peyton frowns at her.

"Nothing," she brushes her off.

"No, no, what?"

"Something Mrs Gillyflower said," she explains. "One of her sermons. Madame will come looking for me. We'd best get on."

"Yeah, good thinking. But we've got to find Clara," Peyton nods.

"Peyton, you said I've met Clara," Jenny says, stopping in the hallway. "Are we talking about the same person?"

"Yes, well, kind of. Mostly."

"But Clara's dead. And, you weren't even here."

"It's complicated."

• • •

"Are we talking about the same person?" Jenny asks again as they continue their way out into the open air. "About the Clara I met last Christmas with the Doctor?"

"I couldn't see much from where I was but she survived the process," Peyton says, changing the subject. "She must be in one of these houses somewhere."

"But Clara died," Jenny calls out to her in a whisper as Peyton runs off to peer into a window nearby. "It was an Ice Lady-"

"I know, I know," Peyton raises both hands to tell her to quiet down. "It's... er... it's complicated."

Peyton dashes away to look into another window before Jenny can retort and finally spots Clara in a beautiful black and red dress and her hair freshly styled, sitting under a bell jar beside a man with a perfectly trimmed moustache.

"Peyton-"

Jenny runs into the room but cuts herself off abruptly when she sees Clara, clearly recognising her.

Peyton looks around the room, the only way to free her is to break the glass but that's going to be loud, and messy. Oh well, that's a problem for Peyton twenty seconds in the future.

She picks up a chair nearby and with as much force as she can, heaves it toward the glass which shatters immediately.

• • •

"Can she be revived, like you were?" Jenny asks as Peyton peers through the grate of the restoration chamber where she and Jenny had placed Clara.

"Well, I hope so," Peyton sighs, stepping away. "It would be an awful pain if it doesn't. This was supposed to be a girls trip."

Peyton fiddles with the gold ring hanging from her neck as her eyes stay glued to the chamber door. What was she going to do if this didn't work?

The sound of footsteps tears her attention away from Clara and to a posse of Pilgrims marching toward them.

"Oh, great," Peyton groans as several of them brandish wooden bats. "Attack of the supermodels. Time for a plan?"

"Nah, Peyton," Jenny says, reaching for the ribbon of her bonnet. "This one's on me."

She steps in front of the Time Lady and tears her hat and dress off, revealing a leather catsuit underneath. Peyton's eyes bulge as she struggles to figure out where to look before one of the men step forward confidently.

Unfortunately for him, Jenny grabs his arm and tosses him over her shoulder as if he wasn't a fully grown man.

She kicks him in the ribs and elbows two more Pilgrims who approach her.

"That is a plan!" Peyton smiles, very impressed.

Jenny smiles back at her, her back turned as the rest of the horde advances.

"Okay, time for a new plan," Peyton says, holding a hand out toward her. "Run!"

"SON TA HAH!"

The Sontaran war cry is followed by the bright light of a blaster going off over their heads, bowling over the pilgrims as they scatter.

Peyton and Jenny have pushed aside as a Sontaran soldier barges past them which would have been more alarming if the Doctor hadn't told her about Vastra and Jenny's rather potato-esque butler.

"Quickly! Let's go!" Madame Vastra calls from further down the hall.

"Yes! Just a second!" Peyton yells, standing on her toes to peer into the grate again.

"No, ma'am we're not escaping," Jenny backs her up. "We've got to help Peyton with Clara!"

Peyton looks over her shoulder to see Vastra looking at her curiously. "Yes, same Clara. Long story."

"What now, Madame?" Strax inquires. "We could lay down mimetic cluster mines."

"Strax."

"Or dig trenches and fill them with acid."

"Strax! You're over-excited," Vastra reprimands. "Have you been eating Miss Jenny's sherbet fancies again?"

"...No."

"Go outside and wait for me until I call for you," Vestra says.

"But, Madame-"

"Go!"

"I'm going to go play with my grenades," Strax mutters as he stomps away.

Peyton ignores the worryingly psychotic behaviour to scan the restoration chamber with her sonic.

"Okay," she says quietly. "I think she's about done."

She grabs the door handle and wrenches it open to reveal Clara standing perfectly still, almost like she's asleep.

"I know who you think she is, but she isn't," Peyton says to the two women behind her. "She can't be. The Doctor told me about his stay with you and how you met her."

"I was right then, the Doctor and Clara have unfinished business."

Without warning, Clara begins to fall forward but quickly, Peyton is able to brace herself to catch her.

She seems to be at least a little conscious as Clara's hands come to rest on Peyton's shoulders as one of her hands holds the shorter woman's waist and the other comes to rest upon her neck to take her pulse.

Clara's eyes flutter open and she looks up at Peyton, shocked.

"Hello, stranger," Peyton says, trying to push her upright but Clara seems to be quite content to stay leaning her full weight in Peyton's arms.

"Peyton!" She giggles before reaching up to tap her on the nose.

"Uh-huh," Peyton frowns, twitching her nose in confusion. Whatever chemicals restored her must have left her with a little high.

Peyton watches Clara's eyes move from her face to look over her shoulder. "Hi," she says, looking over to Jenny. However, when her eyes move over to Vastra, she freezes in shock. "What's going on?" Clara whispers.

"Well, where to begin," Peyton says, finally managing to get Clara to hold her own weight. She notices Clara's eyes are firmly on Vastra. "She's a lizard."

• • •

Together, the four walk through the Sweetville mill quietly and cautiously. Peyton and Vastra lead the way and Jenny and Clara take up the rear.

"You have grown an awful lot since we last met, Miss Peyton," Vastra says.

"Well, it's been a while. A century with the Doctor will do that to you," Peyton shrugs.

"I'm sorry, about what happened to your friends Amelia and Rory. I know you were very close."

Peyton doesn't answer, she just nods, knowing that going into it is only going to distract her from what needs to be done.

"My people once ruled this would as well, you know," Vastra says, noticing Peyton's reluctance to continue the conversation. "But we did not rule it alone. Just as humanity fights a daily battle against nature, so did we. And our greatest plague, the most virulent enemy was the repulsive red leech."

"He doesn't sound too friendly," Peyton says, slowly to a halt as Vastra does. "The Crimson Horror is catchier I think. What was it exactly?"

"A tiny parasite. It infected our drinking water. And once in our systems, it secreted a fatal poison."

"Well, if it's been hanging around, lurking in the shadows, maybe it's evolved. Maybe it's even had help," Peyton murmurs, pulling out her sonic pen and tapping it against her chin thoughtfully.

"Peyton, I've been thinking, the chimney-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Way past that now," Peyton brushes Clara off. "Gross red parasite from the time of the dinosaurs pitched up in Victorian Yorkshire. I didn't see that one coming when the Doctor organised our girl's holiday."

"Yeah, but the chimney!"

"But what's the connection to Mrs Gillyflower," Peyton continues without noticing Clara. "'Judgement will rain down on us all'..."

Peyton turns to pace, trying to think, on her way back she looks up to Clara who is giving her an annoyed expression.

Peyton stops in her tracks. "An empty mill," she murmurs.

Clara grabs Peyton by the shoulders. "A chimney that doesn't blow smoke."

Peyton casts her eyes toward the ceiling as the realisation kicks in. Oh, that's good.

"Okay, I'll give you that one," Peyton rolls her eyes

"Missed me?" Clara bats her eyelids prettily.

"I was actually starting to get used to the peace and quiet," Peyton snarks.

"Oh, you're coming around to me, aren't you?" She smiles hopefully.

"Don't hold your breath."

• • •

Peyton and Clara sneak through the mill while Jenny and Vastra take another route. But as they enter the room, the sound of soft sobbing alarms them.

"Who is that? Who is there?" A broken voice calls.

Peyton turns to see Ada in the corner, sitting atop a crate and crying. She sighs and walks over to her, bunching up her skirt before crouching down in front of her and taking her hand, looking up into her scarred face.

She gasps at the touch but Peyton rubs her hand soothingly. "It's okay." She places Ada's hand onto her cheek carefully so that she can realise who she is.

"You. It's you!" Ada says, elated, placing her other hand on Peyton's face as well. "My monster. You've come back you're..."

"Warm, and alive," Peyton says. "Thanks to you, Ada. You saved me from your mother's human rubbish tip. Now, hey, what's wrong?"

"She does not want me, monster," Ada sobs. "I am not to be chosen. Perhaps it was my own sin, the blackness in my heart, that my father saw in me."

"Ada, no, that's nonsense. Stupid, backwards nonsense, and you know it," Peyton argues, righteous anger bubbling beneath the surface. How could someone cast out their own daughter?

Peyton brushes a thumb along Ada's scars curiously, they're so vicious, how on Earth did she get them?

"What is it?" Clara asks.

"Who is that?" Ada jumps.

"I'm...I'm a friend of hers," Clara says, crouching down beside Peyton.

"Then you are fortunate, indeed. It isn't good to be alone," Ada says through a trembling voice.

"Ada, would you mind telling me something?" Peyton asks, she takes a breath and channels as much energy as she can into her words. "Who is Mr Sweet?"

Ada whimpers and shakes her head. Peyton knits her eyebrows together. Her charm had never failed on anyone before. Why Ada? She looks into her glassy white eyes.

"No, no, I cannot betray mama, not even now."

"Okay," Peyton says, standing to her feet. "Then can you come with us? There's something you should see."

• • •

Peyton bursts into Mrs Gilliflower's tower to the sound of her chuckling.

"You do seem to keep turning up like a bad penny, young lady," Mrs Gillyflower chides.

"Force of habit," Peyton smiles cynically, shoving her hands into the pockets of her dress.

"Can I offer you both something? Tea? Seed cake? Oh, a glass of Amontillado?"

"No thanks," Peyton shakes her head. "We've had a skinful already as you might say."

"Ha! Very funny," Mrs Gillflower glares.

"Hmm, yeah. I'm Peyton, you're nuts, and I'm going to stop you," Peyton says, walking past her and admiring her rather ominous looking switchboard.

"I'm afraid Mr Sweet and I cannot allow that," she apologises.

"Yeah, okay. Would it be impolite to ask why you and Mr Sweet are petrifying your workforce with diluted prehistoric leech venom?" Peyton asks, turning back to her.

"So, when do we get to meet him?" Clara asks from across the room, having wandered off. "This silent partner of yours? Why's he so shy?"

"Mr Sweet is always with us," Gillyflower says cheerily.

"You seem to have a very close relationship, you and your _pal_."

"Oh yes, Miss Barrett, exceedingly close," she whispers, walking past her. "Symbiotic, you might say."

Peyton looks over her shoulder to see the old woman turn back to them and tear away the front of her dress to reveal a small red.. thing, clinging to her chest.

Peyton frowns in disgust as it lifts its tiny head to reveal two pitch-black eyes and a circular mouth full of teeth.

"Peyton, what is that?" Clara asks, frightened.

"A survivor," Mrs Gillyflower answers instead as she sits down at the table and picks up a small bowl of diced fruit and begins offering it to the creature. "He has grown fat in the filth humanity has pumped into the rivers. That's where I found him."

"Very resourceful," Peyton comments, folding her arms.

"His needs are simple. And in return, he gives me his nectar."

"Mrs Gillyflower, you have no idea what you're dealing with!" Peyton warns, stepping toward her threateningly. "In the wrong hands, that venom could wipe out all life on this planet!"

"Do you know what these are?" Gillyflower asks, presenting her hands toward the two intruders. She laughs. "The wrong hands!"

She gets to her feet and walks over to the switchboard, and pulls a lever down on the side.

Peyton jumps to her feet as the should of cogs grinding and chains clanking in the walls grows louder and louder. She rushes over to the window where she can see the chimney stack towers lighting up. She hopes that Jenny and Vestra were able to secure the venom before that thing takes off.

"Planning a little fireworks party, are we?" Rule seven, stay in control. If you're not in control, act like you are.

"You have forced me to advance the Great Work somewhat, Miss Barrett. But my colossal scheme remains as it was. My rocket will explode high in the atmosphere, raining down Mr Sweet's sweet venom onto all humanity."

"Wiping us all out! You can't!" Clara yells, storming forward but Peyton places herself in her path.

"My new Adam and Eves will sleep but for a few months before stepping out into a golden dawn. Is it not beautiful, Miss Barrett?"

Peyton lets out a sarcastic huff before walking toward her slowly. "What I would like to know, Mrs Gillyflower, is where Ada sits in your grand plans, hmm?"

"What?"

"Your daughter," Peyton reminds her. "You do remember her, correct? Tell us about your daughter."

"How can you speak of such trivia when my hour is at hand?" She says, appalled. "The child is of no consequence."

"Is that why you experimented on her?" Peyton asks, sitting down in a beautiful chaise lounge.

"Experimented?" Clara raises an eyebrow.

"The signs are all there," Peyton keeps her eyes downcast, fearing her anger to rise up. "The pattern of scarring. You used her as a guinea pig, didn't you?"

"Oh, my stars!" Clara murmurs, appalled.

"Sometimes, sacrifices must be made," Gillyflower asserts.

"Sacrifices?" Peyton snaps, leaping to her feet, letting the hot rush of rage wash over her.

"It was necessary! I had to find out how much of the venom would produce an anti-toxin. To immunise myself! Don't you see?"

"Your own _daughter_!" Peyton rages. "How could you hurt your own flesh and blood? She trusted you!"

"It was necessary!"

Peyton breathes heavily and deeply. She wants to lunge forward and, and... hurt her. The tingle of excitement rushing up her spine at the thought is enough to knock her down a notch. Her blood chills as she realises exactly what she was just thinking, what she almost did.

"Mama?" Ada's soft and broken voice pulls Peyton out of her spiral just enough so that she can straighten up. She sees Clara looking at her with a concerned and frightened expression out of the corner of her eye. "Is it... is it true?"

"Ada!"

"It is. It's true. True!"

"Ada, listen to me-"

"You hag!" Ada screams, charging forward. "You perfidious hag! You virago! You harpy! All these years, I have helped you, served you, looked after you. Does it count for nothing? Nothing at all?"

She wields her walking cane and begins striking her mother.

"Stop, stop!" She cries but Ada is unyielding.

Glued to the spot, Peyton stares at the debacle. She tries to fight it, but that feeling, that sadistic excitement creeping up her spine seems so tempting to divulge. The idea that Ada might just rip her mother to shreds frightens and elates her. What is happening?

Clara steps in front of her, wielding a chair, aiming it at the switchboard.

"What are you doing?" Peyton frowns.

"Saving the day, you seem a little distracted."

With a grunt, Clara launches the chair at the glass portion of the switchboard, jamming the legs between the cogs behind it, triggering a shower of sparks to rain down on them.

"No!" Mrs Gillyflower shrieks.

"Well... That worked," Peyton says rather surprised. She turns back to Mrs Gillyflower, who has been relieved from her daughter's attack. "I'm afraid your rocket isn't going anywhere, Mrs Gillyflower."

"Please," Mrs Gillyflower whimpers. "Come to me, Ada."

Ada sobs as she complies, walking forward into her mother's arms.

"Oh, my child. You have always been so very... _useful_!"

Mrs Gillyflower holds Ada by her shoulders and points a pistol at her head.

"What are you doing?" Peyton raises her hands, looking between the two Gillyflowers anxiously.

"Please, Mama. No more. No more."

"And now, if you'll please excuse us, we must be going," Mrs Gillyflower says, turning and opening the door behind them. "It is long past Ada's bedtime!"

The door slams behind them and Clara rushes to the door.

"No, no, don't, Clara," Peyton warns "if we follow straight after her, she'll shoot Ada on the spot."

"She wouldn't!"

"Like I said, nuts," Peyton spins around and spots the chair stick sticking out of the switchboard. Well, it's the only other way out. She grabs it and turns back to Clara, still holding it over her head. "Chairs are useful."

Clara gives her a confused frown before Peyton spins on her heel and launches the chair at the window looking out onto Sweetville.

"You know, I used to this you were the sane one," Clara says in a high pitched voice. "I'm rescinding that now."

"Come on," Peyton scoffs, holding a hand out toward her. Clara walks over and delicately places her hand atop of Peyton's with an eager smile.

• • •

Peyton races up the metal stairs around the rocket, Clara following close behind.

"Just let her go, Mrs Gillyflower," Peyton. Calls as the two Gillyflowers come into sight further up the staircase. "Let Ada go!"

"Secondary firing mechanism, Miss Barrett," Mrs Gillyflower says, tapping a metal panel on the brick wall with her pistol. "Mr Sweet and I are too smart for you, after all."

"Just let your daughter go, Mrs Gillyflower," Peyton reasons.

With a groan, Ada launches herself from her mother's grip and stumbles down the stairs toward them.

"Ada!" Mrs Gillyflower yells, cocking the pistol and pointing it at her daughter.

"Shoot, if you wish, Mama," Ada cries. "It is of no matter, for you killed me a long time ago."

Peyton tries to rush forward to protect her but Gillyflower shoots the bricks above her head, causing her to cower back.

" _I'll labour night an_ _d_ _day_!" Mrs Gillyflower sings as she opens the panel to reveal the mechanisms behind it. Peyton takes this opportunity to grab Ada around the waist and pull her behind herself and Clara to protect her. " _To be a pilgrim_!"

She pulls the lever down and the rocket engine fires to life and a tidal wave of heat washes over them.

Peyton grabs Clara and Ada and pushes them up against the wall with herself shielding them as the rocket launches mere feet from them.

"Now, Mr Sweet," Mrs Gillyflower says as Peyton leans back to watch the rocket rise higher and higher in the night sky. "Now the whole world will taste your lethal kiss!"

In doing so, Peyton spots two figures on the stairs above them and smiles.

"I think you may have to reconsider your doomsday plans, Mrs Gillyflower," Peyton laughs confidently.

For a second, Mrs Gillyflower looks confused but then she follows Peyton's eye line to see Vastra and Jenny holding her jar of precious venom.

"Very well, then," she spits. "If I can't take the world with me, you will have to do. Die, you freaks! Die!"

She raises her pistol towards Jenny and Vastra who place down the jar before Vastra steps in front of her.

"Put down your weapon, human female!" Strax's voice echoes through the tower.

Peyton squints upward to see the Sontaran aiming his blaster downwards.

Mrs Gillyflower, determined as ever shoots her pistol up at Strax but misses. Strax retaliates with a single blaster shot which takes off the section of railing the old woman is leaning against.

"Oh, dear," Peyton gulps as Mrs Gillyflower lets of a shrill scream as she topples toward the ground. "Ouch."

• • •

Above their heads, the rocket explodes in the sky, but nothing but debris will fall now, hopefully, most of it landing in some unfortunate farmer's fields.

The assembly on the stairs looks back down to Mrs Gillyflower and Ada on the floor below.

"What are we going to do with that thing?" Jenny asks.

Peyton sighs. "Well, I guess the Doctor would say we should take it back to the Jurassic Era. Keep it out of harm's way."

In the train of thought, she almost misses Ada slowly get to her feet and tap her cane along the floor. That is until, the young woman begins violently striking the parasite with it, yellow guts and gore flying everywhere.

"I guess, that works too," Peyton shrugs.

• • •

"You have grown into a fine young woman from the child you were when we first met," Madame Vastra smiles through her veil as she places a hand on Peyton's shoulder.

"Thank you," Peyton bows her head. "And thank you all for taking care of the Doctor for all those years."

"It was our pleasure," Jenny nods. "And if any of you need anything again, you know where to find us."

"Of course." Peyton looks down at her watch and then to the alleyway behind them. The Doctor should be here any moment now.

"Yes, in the meantime, be sure to get eight hours of sleep and obtain your daily nutrients every day," Strax adds.

"It's been lovely meeting you all," Clara smiles as the sound of the Tardis whirring to a halt fills their ears.

"And it was lovely to meet you," Ada replies.

"Hello girls, oh, and assorted company," the Doctor calls, barrelling out of the Tardis.

He regards the Paternoster gang with a nod and sends a small wave Ada's way, which she doesn't see, but it's the thought that counts.

As he approaches, he looks worriedly between Clara and the small crowd.

"Well, how was your week?" He asks inconspicuously.

"It was fun. Nothing to report," Clara lies sweetly. Peyton can't help but smile with a roll of her eyes.

"Good day, Doctor," Vastra says.

"Vastra, Jenny, Strax! Long time no see."

As he talks to the three, Peyton turns to Ada who has been standing quietly to the side in lovely new clothes they had bought for her. "Now, Ada, I'd love to stay and clear up the mess, but-"

"I know, dear monster, you have things to do," she says.

"And what about you? What are you going to get up to?"

"Oh, there are many things a bright young lady can do to occupy her time. It's time I stepped out of the darkness and into the light."

"Good luck, Ada. You know, I think you'll be just splendid," Peyton says, lifting her hand rub her shoulder.

"Alright, Clara," the Doctor says. "In the Tardis, you go, I just want to speak with these three for a moment longer."

Clara sighs but walks off in the direction of the Tardis but she lingers in the doorway. "Hey, Peyton."

"Mhmm?"

"We make a good team, you and I."

"Whatever you say," Peyton shakes her head, watching Clara enter the Tardis and disappear from sight.

"Well, I'm very curious, what's that?" The Doctor asks, peering past the group to where the jar of red liquid sits on the cobbles.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you it later," Peyton says with a knowing smile toward Vastra and Jenny.

"Right, well, lovely seeing you. Have some Pontefract cakes on me. I love Pontefract cakes," the Doctor nods cheerily. "See you around, eh?"

The Doctor turns to wander back up to the Tardis but Jenny steps forward to call out to hun. "But Doctor, that girl. She's Clara, but that doesn't make any sense."

"Well," the Doctor frowns, glancing toward Peyton. "It's also a long story."


	45. In the Tardis #8

Peyton grimaces as she reaches into the mess of wires in the base of the console below the flight deck, grasping blindly in the space. She and the Doctor had noticed a rattling sound on their last journey and she had offered to take a look at it. So far, she hadn't found anything that was out of place.

"Whatcha up to?"

Peyton sighs as any hope of getting anywhere is cut apart by Clara's voice.

"I thought you had gone to bed?" Peyton says, turning to slowly look up at her.

Clara wraps her dressing gown tighter around her middle. "Couldn't sleep."

"Right..." Peyton turns back to her work, her knees beginning to ache from sitting on them for so long.

"So, what are you up to?" Clara persists, seating herself down on one of the closed panels, looking down at Peyton expectantly.

"There was a, uh, rattle," Peyton gesticulates with her hand before plugging it back into the wires. "I just thought I'd make sure it was nothing that was going to blow us all up."

"Fair enough. Can I help?" Clara asks.

Peyton looks up at her with a frown for a second before returning to her business. "No thanks, I've got it sorted."

An awkward silence fell between the two, the tension hangs thick in the air and Peyton tries her best to ignore it.

"I, um, heard about what you did with the Cybermen," Peyton says not looking up from the wires, the promises she had made to the Doctor about being nicer to her rattling in her head. "It was good... brave."

"Is that a compliment?" Clara teases.

"It's the truth," Peyton glances up at her for a second, completely serious. "Cybermen are not pushovers. I've met them a couple of times. You were great. I know that as soon as you said you wanted to bring the kids along I bailed, but I wish I didn't, I could've taken them home as soon as trouble spurred."

"It all worked out in the end though, like it always does. They loved it, well, the parts of it they can remem-"

"It doesn't always work out," Peyton interrupts, staring blankly ahead of her.

"Oh," Clara whispers. "Would you... if you don't mind... tell me what about them... about what happened."

"Well," Peyton begins slowly and tentatively, determined not to let her emotions rise up. "There was a very not good day, with some very not good creatures. And they killed two very good people. Great people."

"You escaped? You and the Doctor."

"Yeah, they didn't want us. They wanted him. And she couldn't bear a world without him in it."

"Weren't they human? Why would whoever these monsters are, want them and not you two?" The question is innocent enough but Peyton freezes, her blood boiling.

"Just because Rory was human and wasn't some big mystery to solve, doesn't mean he wasn't special!" Peyton snaps, looking Clara up and down.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Clara's face scrunches up with worry.

"No," Peyton says very quickly, looking away. "Nothing, don't worry."

"He sounds great," Clara mumbles.

"Yeah," Peyton agrees softly. "They both were."

Silence falls between them again, just as thick and murky as ever. Peyton pretends to be very engrossed in her task despite haven completely given up at this point.

"What's it going to take?" Clara says finally, looking up at the flight deck above them.

"Hmm?"

"For you? I'm not replacing them, I never will. But what is it going to take for us to be friends?"

Peyton pauses, slowly retracting her hand from the console. "You know what? As long as you don't get yourself or anyone else killed, I think we'll be okay."

Clara's face slowly melts into a smile "That, I think I can manage."

Peyton chuckles under her breath softly. "I'll hold you to that, Clara Oswald."

"So what about this rattle then?" Clara says cheerily moving to lean over to peer into the exposed Tardis.

"Huh?" Peyton leans backward as Clara thrusts her hand downwards into the mess of wires.

"What am I looking for?"

"Uh..." Peyton is dumbfounded for a moment before coming to her senses with a quick shake of her head. "Something loose, metal probably, might be broken or corroded."

"What?" Clara says pushing herself to sit back upright, her first firmly clenched around something small. "Like this?"

As Clara unfurls her hand, Peyton sees the silver cog, about the size of a plum in diameter lying in her palm. A small crack runs across it.

"Yeah, that might do it."

Peyton's annoyance at Clara finding it before her is quickly drowned out by the other woman's pride, beaming down at her gleefully.

As Peyton reaches her hand out to ask to take it from her, she gets to her feet with Clara.

"Well, I'm going to call it day," Clara says, pressing the cog into Peyton's hand gently, their fingers making contact for more than was necessarily necessary. "Goodnight Peyton."

"Goodnight, Clara," Peyton mumbles, still staring at the place Clara was standing for some time after she had begun to walk away.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, Peyton tosses the cog in the air before catching it in her hand once again. She hears a quiet snigger behind her.

She turns to see Clara standing on the bottom stair.

"You aliens and your box," she rolls her eyes, smiling as she walks away.

• • •

As the Tardis doors close and Peyton is alone with the Doctor on the flight deck once more, she lets out a long-held sigh.

They had barely escaped that time, it was a closer call than they've had in a while, and a terrible, terrible choice they had to make to survive. 

Peyton falls into the seat by the controls as the Doctor sets to work, lifting them up out of Clara's front yard. She lets her head fall back and her eyes close, she can't wait to fall into the comfort of her bed in her flat.

The thud of the Tardis landing signals to Peyton that they were most likely parked inside her living room but she makes no effort to move just yet, letting her tired muscles rest just a moment longer.

"You haven't fallen asleep yet, have you, Peyton?" The Doctor says teasingly, the sound of his footsteps getting closer causes Peyton to draw in a long breath.

She lets her eyes flutter open and she is greeted by the Doctor smiling down at her. "Hi," she grunts.

"Are you okay?" He says seriously.

"Yeah, me? Fine," Peyton pushes herself to her feet and toward the door. A hand around her wrist stops her before she can get far, however.

"Peyton, please don't make the mistake of thinking that in over a thousand years of life, I don't know what it means when someone says that they're okay when they're very clearly not."

"I'm just tired that's all," Peyton says, halfheartedly trying to pull her wrist from the Doctor's grip. "I haven't slept in about fifty hours."

"Peyton, talk to me... please."

Peyton makes the mistake of looking up into his hazel eyes, those sad, sad eyes. "I..." She struggles to get the words out as those heavy eyes are staring down at her. "Back there, at the temple. When we did it, when we did what we had to do to escape... instead of feeling scared or... or sad. I felt... I felt powerful. Doctor, what's happening to me?"

The Doctor's face seems to transform in front of her, shifting into an expression that carries the weight of the thousand years he has roamed the universe. He steps forward, taking one of Peyton's hands in both his own, lifting it between them as he runs his long fingers over it.

"A long time ago, you and I had a conversation," he begins, his voice tired and strained. "I made you a promise, do you remember what that was?"

"You've made a lot of promises, Doctor," Peyton says, her voice hoarse with the effort to keep her self from breaking out into tears. "And you don't keep all of them, either."

"I know, I know," he bows his head, studying her hand meticulously. "Do you remember Apalapacia? The promise I made to you that day?"

Peyton's eyebrows knit together as she casts her mind back to the time they spent on the quarantined planet, Amy had gotten lost, separated from them by the time streams. Her memory, while capable of processing the many years she has been alive, is not as acute as the Doctor's but she remembers that day, of course. The fear and the dread of her best friend as well as the shocking realisation that she was slipping away, slipping into the Doctor.

"I promised that I would never make you like me," the Doctor recounts. "And while I have done my best to hold my word, I fear that it isn't me you're becoming."

"Doctor, what do you-"

Peyton cuts herself off because she knows exactly what the Doctor means.

"The justification of violence, seeing the beauty in the destruction..." The Doctor trails off, unable to meet Peyton's eye any longer.

"So you're saying this is my fault!" Peyton explodes ripping her hand away from the Doctor, unable to grasp any other explanation. The Master has never been here to puppeteer her, after all. What was she supposed to do about this all?

"No, no, no!" The Doctor reassures her, he pauses for a moment, sucking his teeth. "You hit a point that broke you, Peyton. For you it was losing Amy and Rory, for him it was staring into the Untempered Schism. You were conceived out of one of the Master's manipulations, it's no surprise that you hold that capability within yourself."

Peyton stares up at the Time Lord, her eyes blown wide with anger and horror. "Oh! So that makes it all okay, then?" She laughs sarcastically. "I'm sorry that I'm the demon spawn of your mortal enemy and that makes me violent and dangerous. Maybe you should just lock me up before I do something bad to your precious, _perfect_ Clara!"

Peyton doesn't realise she is crying until the Doctor wraps his arms around her, holding her tight against his chest.

She thrashes in his arms, beating her hands against his torso uselessly. "Let... me... go..." She struggles.

The Doctor doesn't say anything, he doesn't budge. He's much stronger than he looks, simply keeping himself and and he he loves as still as a pole and letting Peyton tire herself out.

Soon she calms, clutching the Doctor's coat in her fists and sobbing into his chest, sure to soak the fabric. She feels like an idiot, a small child who just threw a tantrum in her up father's arms. With every tear, her anger leaves her, making her realise how much she didn't mean a single thing she had said, having twisted the Doctor's meaning entirely. "I'm... I'm sorry," she manages through shaking breaths.

"No," the Doctor whispers, loosening his grip slightly, confident that Peyton is now too weak to cause any further damage. "No. Don't say that, you have nothing to be sorry for."

"Stop it. Stop it!" Peyton groans, her protest muffled by his shirt. "Don't pity me... please."

"Oh, Peyton," he whispers into her hair. "Peyton, Peyton, Peyton."

He gently rocks her back and forth, swaying together in the empty Tardis, everything silent except for the quiet chorus of their heartbeats.

"What do I do, Doctor?" She whispers breathlessly. "I want it to stop so bad. Doctor, I don't know what to do."

Peyton doesn't remember the last time those words had ever spilled over her lips. Her whole life was built on rationality and intelligence, unable to fathom a universe where she wasn't in control.

The Doctor doesn't say anything for a while, running his hand up and down Peyton's back. Peyton feels his chest inflate underneath her. "You go to bed. You get some sleep and in the morning, you will put on your bravest face and you will heal. You have to really try, Peyton. You can't expect it to just happen and give up when it doesn't. Sutures of the mind don't just stitch themselves."

Peyton nods, sure that if she opens her mouth again she'll start sobbing once again. She tears herself away from the Doctor and looks up at him, still sniffling a little.

"Off to bed, Peyton. Doctor's orders," he says nodding to the Tardis doors behind her. "I'll grab your things for you. I think some time on Earth will do you good."

The Doctor pulls her forward one last time to gently place a kiss on her forehead. Peyton's heavy eyelids fall close as he does, unable to think of anything better than falling into her bed upstairs right about now.

She stays rooted to the spot as she listens to the Doctor's footsteps resonate through the console room, getting quieter and quieter until they've faded to nothing.

With a great effort, Peyton forces her eyes open and looks around the empty flight deck and sighs, before turning to leave the time machine.

**was i expecting this chapter to be this emotional? no. am i sorry.... also no.**


	46. The Day that Clara Became the Impossible Girl

Peyton's fingertips brush against cardboard as she reaches around blindly in the top of her wardrobe, balancing precariously on her toes.

She retracts her hand as she rocks back onto her heels. She had just been looking for her lighter blanket as the weather had begun to brighten as Autumn lifts into Summer over England but seems to have found something else entirely.

She reaches up yet again, this time with the intention of pulling the object down, the blanket can wait.

Slowly, she lowers her hands and stares down at the shoe box between them, a thin layer of dust settled on its lid. She had not remembered putting it there, she doesn't even own a pair of shoes from this brand.

With one hand, she peels the lid back to reveal a jumbled pile of photos inside, their bright colours overlapping one another but she immediately recognises some of the ones on the top.

Peyton walks back over to her bed and places the box down before sitting beside it, crossing her legs beneath her. She pulls out a photo, the first one on the top.

It's a photo of Amy and Rory in front of the newly opened Eiffel Tower, embraced in eachother's arms with Rory placing a kiss on Amy's cheek.

Peyton smiles sadly. She remembers taking this photo. The Doctor had taken them to Paris, 1889 for Amy's birthday and it was just the most beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and surprisingly warm for early Spring.

She places it down and picks up another. It's a picture of her and Rory back to back, swords raised and ready, taken from the front row of a Roman style arena. Of course, it wasn't actually Ancient Rome, it just looked like it. The photo is from the day that she and Rory entered into the Gallappoon Olympics, the event: doubles duel.

She gently sets it down with the first image and plucks yet another from the box.

The image causes Peyton's eyes to water, threatening to spill onto the photo. She sees herself with her eyes shut closed, mouth wide open, caught in the moment of a rib aching laugh as she has her arms draped around Amy's shoulders, Rory and River beside them, also laughing heartily at a joke Peyton can't quite remember.

What she would give to just spend one more day with them, one more adventure. Maybe then she could finally say goodbye to Rory.

The chime of the doorbell ringing prompts Peyton to tear her eyes away from the box and she pushes herself up from her bed to trot down the stairs to the entry way.

She pulls open the door to reveal a bored looking post lady, who presents a letter toward her.

"Thank you, have a nice day," Peyton says, taking it from her hand with a pleasant smile which was not returned.

She closes the door and looks down at the envelope in her hand. The paper is old, quite yellow at the edges. The recipient and address are printed in jet black ink with elegant cursive font.

Peyton Barrett  
72 Wisteria Street  
South Acton

It's the print in the top right corner that causes her to raise an eyebrow however.

To be delivered:  
Tenth of April, Two Thousand and Thirteen

Peyton had received a handful of letters from the past before. Her first thought is that the Doctor had got himself stuck in the past again. That is until she turns the letter in her hand and her eyes fall upon the black wax seal with the ornate 'V' pressed into it.

She walks into her living room and snaps open the seal to pull out a letter and small black candle. What has Madame Vastra got in store for her today?

'My dearest Peyton,' she reads silently in her head. 'The Doctor entrusted me with your contact details in the event of an emergency, and I fear one now has arisen. Asumming this letter will have reached you as planned, on April the tenth, 2013, please find and light the enclosed candle. It will release a soporific which will induce a trance state enabling direct communication across the years. Please light at your earliest convienience. Speak soon!'

Peyton looks down at the candle between her fingers and sighs. So the Doctor is in trouble, what else did she expect? She sets the letter down and walks over to her kitchen to grab a box of matches and a candle holder which she sets down on her coffee table before sinking into her lounge. With a flick of the match, she lights the candle bafore lying back on the cushions and letting sleep fall over her eyes as the wax's sweet smell fills her nostrils.

She awakens almost immediately, but this time in a stiff dining chair in a dark room.

"Lovely to see you, Peyton," Vastra smiles as she pours tea into five cups.

"And you," Peyton nods. She smiles at Jenny who sits across from her beside her lizard wife and then Strax beside her. Peyton notices Clara sitting in the seat in between them, looking around, bewildered.

"Where are we?" Clara asks as Vastra offers Peyton a cup.

"Exactly where you were, but sleeping," Jenny explains.

"Time travel has always been possible in dreams," Vastra adds as Clara takes an unsure sip of her own cup of tea. "We are awaiting only one more participant."

"Oh no," Strax groans as Peyton casts her eyes to the vacant seat in between herself and Vastra. "Not the one with the gigantic head?"

"It's hair, Strax," Jenny says.

"Mmhph, _hair_."

With a puff of with smoke. The chair is filled by a concerned looking River Song.

"River!" Peyton laughs joyously,

"Peyton!" River smiles, leaning over to give Peyton a quick hug. "It's good to see you."

"And you, it's been so long," Peyton's throat tightens as her eyes become watery yet again. She looks at her fondly as they both sit up again. Though she spent much of their lives with her wearing a different face, Peyton sees nothing but please at childhood memories and teen escapades in her eyes. "Where are we?"

"It's been a long time since I've seen you," she says with a sad smile.

"Professor! Help yourself to some tea," Vastra smiles.

"Why, thank you," River says, pulling a cup toward her and tapping the rim of it with a single finger. Before their eyes, it disappears and is replaced by a tall glass of wine, the bottle in an ornate ice bucket beside it.

"How did you do that?" Jenny frowns.

"Disgracefully," River smirks. She takes a sip before her eyes land on the young woman on the other side of Peyton, who is looking at her just as confused.

"Ah, you guys haven't met," Peyton says, placing her cup in its saucer. "This is Clara Oswald, she has been travelling with the Doctor and I for almost a year now. She's like our... assistant."

"Assistant?" Clara scoffs.

"Clara, this is Professor River Song, an old friend. "

"The Doctor might've mentioned me."

"Oh, yeah, of course he had. Professor Song, sorry, it's just I never realised you were a woman."

River's face freezes in a familiar look that makes Peyton often fear for the Doctor's safely,

"I'll reprimand him," Peyton nods with a flat smile.

"Well, neither did I!" Strax contributes unhelpfully.

"Perhaps we should get down to the buisness at hand," Vastra says.

"That might be good, dear, yes," Jenny nods eagerly.

Madame Vastra throws up a handful of gold dust into the air which forms an image of a man's face hovering above the table.

"Clarence DeMarco," Vastra begins. "Murderer, under sentence of death. He offered us this in exchange for his life."

She swipes her hand throw the image to reveal a second image.

"Space time coordinates," Peyton and River say in unison.

"This, Mr DeMarco claims, is the location of the Doctor's greatest secret."

"Which is?" Clara asks.

"We don't know. It's a secret," Jenny says.

"The Doctor does not discuss his secrets with anyone, my dear. If you're still entertaining the idea that you are an exception to this rule, ask yourself one question. What is his name?" Vastra says.

Peyton casts her eyes downward despite the question not being aimed at her, still a little hurt that he has still failed to share this with her.

"Well, I know it," River says after a sip of her wine.

"What, you know his name? He told you?" Clara asks, not really believing her.

"I made him."

"How?"

"It took a while."

"So you're a... close friend of his, then?"

"A little more than a friend," River says with an annoyed tone of voice. "A long time ago."

"He's still never contacted you?" Vastra asks, concerned.

"He doesn't like endings," River sighs.

Before Peyton can reach over to her and ask her what she means, River interrupts.

"So what else did this DeMarco tell you? he didn't just buy his life with some coordinaties. How did he prove their value?"

"One word, only," Vastra says.

"What word?" Peyton asks anxiously.

"A word I'd heard in connection with the Doctor before. Trenzalore."

Trenzalore, Peyton had definitely heard that before, but where? When? She looks across at Vastra with a determined frown.

"How exactly did he describe what he was giving you?"

"The Doctor has a secret you know," the face of DeMarco speaks as the dust rearranges itself into his likeness. "He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered."

"You misunderstood," River says faintest.

"Ma'am, sorry, I just realised I forgot to lock the doors," Jenny interrupts timidly.

"It doesn't matter, Jenny," Vastra leans forward toward River. "What misunderstanding, tell me?"

"No, ma'am, please. I should've locked up before we went into the trance," Jenny continues rather distressed.

"Jenny, it doesn't matter!"

"Someone's broken in!"

That gets Vastra's attention.

"Someone's with us. I can hear them."

"Jenny, are you alright?" Vastra asks, placing a hand on her arm.

"Sorry, ma'am, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry. I think I've been murdered!"

Jenny becomes translucent in front of them as she sobs.

"Jenny!" Vastra cries.

"What's happening to her? Clara asks.

"Jenny, can you hear us?" Peyton calls across the table.

"Speak to us, boy!" Strax yells.

"Jenny!" Vastra sobs as her wife fades from sight.

"You're under attack," River says. "You must wake up now. Just wake up. Do it!" She reaches over and slaps the Silurian across the face who promptly disappears from sight. "You too, Strax, wake up now!" River reaches across and throws the rest of her wine in his face, which causes him to flicker from sight as well.

Figures appear around the room. Dressed in Victorian suits and top hats, their white faces featureless except for a toothy mouth. Peyton jumps to her feet and pulls Clara by the wrist towards her and River.

"Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor," they all chant in a whisper.

"Tell him what?" Peyton glares at one of them across the room.

"His friend are lost forevermore," a face appears above the table, not in gold dust but in full colour this time, not DeMarco but the face of a another man, deep lines running across his skin and sunken eyes that seem to bore into her soul. "Unless he goes to Trenzalore."

"No, you can't say that," River protests. "He can't got there. You know he can't! The Doctor can never go to Trenzalore!"

"River, what's at Trenzalore?" Peyton asks in as calm a voice as she can. She feels her fist ball into itself and looks behind her to see Clara gone. She must have woken up.

"Peyton, wake up," River orders. "Find the Doctor, don't let him go to Trenzalore."

"But River, will I see you again?"

With a somber smile which Peyton takes to mean 'no', River reaches forward and pinches her forearm.

She opens her eyes to see the console unit of the Tardis despite being sure she fell asleep in her lounge. She stands up out of the leather chair and looks around.

"Doctor?" She calls out. No response.

Peyton walks to the Tardis doors and throws them open, sighing when she sees the familiar sight of Clara's house in the mid afternoon light.

• • •

Clara is pouring tea as Peyton opens the door. She sees the Doctor sitting on a couch in the living room just beyond. But he doesn't acknowledge her as she enters the house, his eyes fixed to the wall in front of him, deep in thought.

Clara offers a mug toward Peyton which she takes with a thankful nod. Healing, Peyton reminds herself. Her rather emotional conversation with the Doctor several weeks ago now still rings around her mind. While the Doctor had tried to initiate further conversations on the matter, Peyton had always insisted that there wasn't the time. She just wasn't ready to be that vulnerable again.

"River asked Vastra for the exact words. What were they?" The Doctor asks as Clara picks up the other two mugs off the table and brings them toward the Doctor. The two must have been talking for a while before Peyton had woken up. Time moves differently in dreams

"The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave," Clara recites. "It is discovered."

The Doctor draws in a shaky breath, his eyes turn downcast, suddenly looking so small. Peyton had only seen him like this once before.

"Doctor?" She steps toward him.

"Sorry," he whispers, bringing his hand to his face. "And it was Trenzalore? It was definitely Trenzalore?"

His voice breaks and cracks as he struggles to get the words out. Peyton places her mug down on a coaster and sits beside him on the lounge.

"Yes," Peyton says, unsure of how to comfort him.

The Doctor lets out a small choked sob before sniffing it back and shaking his head. "Sorry."

He jumps to his feet and briskly turns away from him, his purple tail coats the last thing Clara and Peyton see as he disappears out the front door.

"What's happening?" Clara asks softly. "What's Trenzalore? Do you know?"

"I've... heard it before," Peyton says, tracing the design on the side of her mug with a finger. " I'm still a bit human so my memory isn't great at handling a hundred years of memories. Only the important stuff stays."

"Should we go after him?" Clara asks.

"I'm sure he just needs space to think," Peyton supposes. "But how he reacted. I have only seen him look that terrified once."

"And it wasn't good?" Clara grimaces.

"No," Peyton chokes. "Not good at all."

• • •

Peyton walks down the stairs leading below the console deck to see the Doctor sitting up against the base of the console, staring into the middle distance.

"Did Clara tell you everything?" She asks. She had told her to wait outside the Tardis just for a little while so she could talk to the Doctor. She still doesn't know what to do. River told her to make sure he doesn't go to Trenzalore. But those things, they killed Jenny and are presumably holding Vastra and Strax as hostages.

"Trenzalore," the Doctor murmurs. "I've heard the name, of course. Dorium mentioned it. A few others. Always suspected wahat it was, never wanted to find out myself. River would know though. River always knew."

"Back to front," Peyton nods. "Always one step ahead of us."

"Right, come here, give me your hand," the Doctor waves her over. She does as she's told and offers her hand out. "Now, the coordinates you saw will still be in your memory. I'm linking you into the Tardis telepathic circuit."

"So we're going?" Peyton furrows her eyebrows as the Doctor takes her hand. "But River, she said-"

"I know what River said," the Doctor sighs. "I can't let them die. They saved my life and now I'm going to save theirs."

Peyton nods. "I'm with you, all the way."

The Doctor smiles at her before pulling a cable down from the console and presses the metal end into Peyton palm.

"Ow!" She hisses. "So, what is Trenzalore? A planet? A planet can't be your big secret, right?"

"Peyton, when you are a time traveller, there is one place you must never go. One place in all of space and time you must never, ever find yourself."

Peyton gulps.

The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave, it is discovered. Trenzalore. It's not his secret.

"Your grave?" Peyton asks quietly. "Is that where we're going?"

"Trenzalore is where I'm buried," the Doctor says through gritted teeth. He removes the cable from Peyton's hand and stomps off toward the stairs. "Where's Clara?"

"She's just outside," Peyton says catching up to him. "Hey, hey! Look at me. Are you really okay with this? You just said it's the one place you must never go."

"I know," the Doctor leans forward against the consoles they arrive on the flight deck. "I have to save them. It's worth the risk. They cared for me during those dark years. Never questioned me, never judged me. They were just... kind. I owe them, I have a duty."

"Okay," Peyton nods. "We do this together, alright?"

"Of course," the Doctor says, grabbing her hand and placing a light kiss on her knuckles.

He pulls away and presses a button to open the Tardis doors, revealing a solemn Clara waiting outside.

"Come on," Peyton sighs, waving her in. "You want to help us break into the Doctor's tomb?"

Peyton ignores the Doctors proud smile gazing toward her as Clara hops inside the box, pushing the doors closed behind her.

Just as Clara hands reach the console, the Doctor throws the Tardis into flight.

Peyton runs around the other side go the console to assist him, adjusting the stabilisers, rotating the temporal regulators. That is until with a great amount of force, Peyton is thrown back from the controls.

"What's that?" Clara squeaks.

"She's just figured out where we're going. She's against it!" The Doctor struggles with the machine. "I'm about to cross my own time line in the biggest way possible. The Tardis doesn't like it.

"She's fighting it!" Peyton groans as the throws all her weight behind one of the levers.

"Clara, hang on!" The Doctor says.

Sparks and clouds of smoke begin to emanate from the console and the walls around them.

"Get back!" The Doctor shrieks.

Peyton throws herself away from the console and grabs a hold of the railing. Her legs are knocked from underneath her and she swings forward, clinging to the metal railing to prevent her from tumbling to the lower floor.

The explosion dies down and Peyton settles on the floor, her hands still clinging to the railing above her head. She coughs as the smoke fights its way into her lungs.

"Now what?" Clara asks dejectedly.

"She doesn't want to land. She's shut down," the Doctor says through a cough. He pushes himself to his feet and back to the console unit, quickly followed by Peyton.

"How are we supposed to get there then?" Peyton asks as Clara gets to her feet behind her. "How are we going to save them?"

"We have to be close," the Doctor sighs after fiddling with a few switches half heartedly.

"What do you mean, 'close'?" Clara frowns as the Doctor walks away toward the doors.

Peyton watches as Clara paces toward the Doctor but she stays on the spot, massaging her temples with her fingers, unsettling memories of the day all those years ago by a lake in Utah flooding back to her. The Doctor was supposed to die there as well. A fixed point. They cheated that, but the idea of a grave, a physical burial site makes it all seem so permanent. I

"Okay," the Doctor sighs, proceeding in a tired voice. "So that's where I end up. Always thought, maybe I'd retire. Take up watercolours, or bee-keeping, or something. Apparently not."

Peyton treads over carefully and gazed out of the open door and looks down mournfully at the grey planet, dead and filled with golden ravines of lava and fire.

"So, how do we get down there? Do we jump?" Clara asks sarcastically.

"No, don't be silly," the Doctor chastises. "We fall."

The Doctor pushes them both back from the doors and slams them closed.

"We what now?" Peyton blinks.

"She's turned off most everything except for the anti-gravs," the Doctor says, marching back to the console and raising his sonic. "Guess what I'm turning off."

At first nothing happens, but then in the distance a cloister bell tolls and Peyton looses her footing as the box plummets toward the planet.

• • •

Peyton steps out into a dreary graveyard, the Tardis being the only pop of colour admits the sea of grey. In the distance, an electrical storm crackles in the sky.

She sees the Doctor hesitating in the doorway. She would too, if she was in his shoes.

"Are you okay?" Clara whispers. "Visiting your own grave? Anyone would be scared."

"It's more than that," the Doctor gulps. "I'm a time traveller. I've probably time-travelled more than anyone else."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning... my grave is potentially the most dangerous place in the universe."

The Doctor takes a brave step out into the planet's soil, his hands nervously fidgeting at this sides.

"Am I buried here somewhere?" The question escapes Peyton's lips before she can think. Looking around at all the gravestones. It looks like a battlefield. She doesn't know what thought is worse; living to fight and die in the battle that kills the last Time Lord, or dying before she gets the chance.

"I... don't know," the Doctor says. Silence falls between them, the only sounds being the crackle and claps of thunder above them.

"Shall we?" Peyton asks, forgetting her question to relieve the awkward silence, holding her hand out to the Doctor which he takes gratefully.

"There are so many gravestones. What happened here?" Clara looks around.

"It's a battlefield graveyard. My final battle," the Doctor explains.

"Why are some of them bigger?" She asks.

"They're soldiers," Peyton supposes. "The bigger the gravestone, the higher the rank."

The Doctor doesn't correct her so she assumes her explanation is sound.

The three of them walk in silence for sometime longer until Peyton's eyes widen at the sight of an enormous Tardis, bigger than any building on Earth. Looming taller than the surrounding mountains, he crumbling phenomenon is something to behold.

"It's one hell of a monument," Clara gasps.

"It's the Tardis," the Doctor says.

"We can see that," Peyton nods.

"No." The Doctor shakes his head. "When a Tardis is dying, sometimes the dimension dams start breaking down. They used to call it a size leak. All the bigger-on-the-inside starts leaking to the outside. It... grows. When I say that's the Tardis, I don't mean it looks like the Tardis. I mean it actually is the Tardis. My Tardis from the future."

The Doctor drops Peyton's hand and marches forward. "What else would they bury me in?"

"Peyton!"

She almost thinks she imagines the voice at first, but when she turns the the source, she sees River Song standing by a headstone not too far from them.

She opens her mouth to speak but River presses a finger to her lips.

Besides her, Clara also seems to have noticed the apparition, looking white as a sheet herself.

"Don't speak, don't say my name," River says. "He can't see or hear me, only you two can."

"Well, come on then!" The Doctor calls, causing both girls to whip their heads back to him.

"We're mentally linked, it's the conference call," River clarifies. "I kept the line open."

"Who are you two talking to?" The Doctor's voice is accompanied by the stomp of his footsteps getting closer. "River?"

Peyton is taken aback. He can't see her, it's not possible. Peyton watches the Doctor make his way forward toward his wife but soon travels beyond her, crouching down to trace the letters engraved on a headstone.

Peyton takes a step forward and peers over his shoulder.

RIVER SONG

An unwelcome image of Amy and Rory's gravestone flashes across Peyton's mind before she frowns. "That can't be right."

"No, it can't," the Doctor says lowly.

"She's not dead," Clara objects.

"Oh, she's dead, I'm afraid. She's been dead for a very long time."

"Yeah, should probably have mentioned that," River chuckles. "Never the right time".

"But I met her!" Clara insists.

"Long story. But her grave can't be here," the Doctor grumbles.

"You're right. Your lives are back to front," Peyton realises. "You told me that the day you first met her she died. Doctor, why is this grave here?"

A crawling sensation causes the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Doctor! Peyton!" Clara yells.

Peyton turns to see a group of the faceless men from the conference call walking toward them through the graveyard.

The Doctor jumps to his feet and moves himself in front of his two companions, holding his sonic out toward their attackers.

"This man must fall as all men must," they chant in their deeply chilling whisper. "The fate of all is always dust."

The Doctor struggles with his sonic, unable to get a reading on them. Peyton pats herself down before realising that her sonic pen is still at home, she had imagined that she would awake at home, not on the Tardis.

"If it's not my gravestone, then what is it?" River asks rhetorically.

"What do you think that gravestone really is?" Peyton looks to the Doctor.

"The gravestone?" The Doctor seems completely lost as to why she would be bringing it up.

"Maybe it's a false grave," River says nonchalantly.

"Maybe it's a false grave!" Clara relays.

"Yeah, maybe," the Doctor brushed her off, more concerned with the angry looking creatures getting closer and closer.

"Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb."

"Maybe it's a secret enterance to the tomb!" Peyton shouts.

"Yes!" The Doctor hits himself in the forehead with his screwdriver before turning to the stone and setting his sonic onto it. "Of course, makes sense. They would've never buried my wife out here!"

"Your what?"

The ground opens up beneath them and with a scream, the three time travellers fall down into it.

• • •

The Tardis has certainly let herself go.

As the three make their way through the labyrinth that is now the Doctor's tomb the overwhelming sense of dread manifests itself in Peyton's chest. Perhaps it's a scare tactic to keep out grave robbers. Or just maybe it's Peyton's own common sense as they run for their lives.

Peyton pants as the Doctor slams a metal door on a group of their persuers, flaming torch in hand.

"Yowzah!" The Doctor breathes.

This part of the tomb is metal rather than stone, and far more well lit. The Doctor drops the torch to the ground as he leads his companions to a metal stair case.

"Still a bit of a climb," the Doctor says. "I think I remember the way."

Peyton's head starts to pound as she slows her pace, reaching out to the railing for support. She notices Clara beside her become affected by the same affliction, stumbling against the wall. However the Doctor seems unaffected.

"Peyton? Clara?" The Doctor turns to them. "Hey, it's okay. You're fine." He pulls the two of them up again and let's them both lean against him as they ascend the stairs. "The dimensioning forces this deep in the Tardis, they can make you a bit giddy."

"I know, I know," Clara mutters before pushing herself off the Doctor, causing them to stop. "How do I know? How do I know that?"

Images flash across Peyton's eyes. Running through the corridors of the Tardis with Clara in tow. Molten creatures. An exploding engine.

"Clara, it's okay, you're fine," the Doctor comforts her in a whisper.

"We've done this before," Peyton stammers, looking around at the Tardis walls. "We have! We climbed through a wrecked Tardis, the three of us."

"You said things," Clara whimpers. "Things I'm not supposed to remember."

Peyton recalls the interrogation on the cliff, how the Doctor screamed at her.

"We can't do this now. The Tardis is a ruin. The telepathic circuits are awakening memories you shouldn't even have," the Doctor explains.

Clara pales as the throbbing in Peyton's head eases, she stands up taller, no longer needing the Doctor for support. She had told Clara about Amy and Rory and opened up to her. All this time since that day, she had been avoiding and resenting the woman when really, they had all but made good. Peyton feels horrible.

"Clara?" The Doctor reaches out a hand tentatively but she doesn't respond. "Clara, what's wrong?"

Clara looks at the Doctor, absolutely terrified and scurries away from him behind Peyton to lean against a grate. "What do you mean you keep meeting me? You said I died! How could I die?" She says in a panicked tone of voice.

"That is not a conversation you should even remember," the Doctor says.

"What do you mean I died!" Clara screams at him.

_"The girl who died, he tried to save. She'll die again inside his grave."_

The chant of the creatures seem to eminate from all around them.

"Run!" The Doctor grabs Clara with one hand and Peyton with the other. But they continue their rhyme as they continue ascending.

_"The daughter of his darkest friend. Yes she too will meet her end."_

• • •

"Here I am, late to my own funeral," the Doctor says, strolling into the room before them. From behind him, Peyton can see the Paternoster gang surrounded by more of these featureless monsters and an old man standing opposite them. "Glad you could make it." He looks behind him to see Jenny on her feet. "Jenny."

"Open the door, Doctor. Speak, and open your tomb," the man says. He too is dressed in rather Victorian apparel, top hat and all. In fact, upon closer inspection, it is the exact outfit the creatures are wearing.

"No." The Doctor stares him down.

"Because you know what's in there?"

"I will not open these doors."

"The key is a word lost to time," the man drawls. "A secret hidden in the deepest shadow and known to you alone. The answer to a question!"

The Doctor marches up to him. "I will not open my tomb."

"Doctor..." the man says, unafraid of the oncoming storm staring him in the face. "What is your name?"

Peyton holds her breath as the man grabs the Doctor by the face with a gloved hand. He can't. He can't say his name. They're all here now, they can save them and leave. But why does Peyton not think it will be that easy?

The Doctor tears his assailant's hand away.

"The Doctor's friends," the man says, unbothered and walking past him. "Stop their hearts."

A hissing behind her causes Peyton to spin around. The sight of the creatures baring their teeth at them causes Peyton to jump back, Clara's hand quickly finding hers.

"Madame, boys, combat formation!" Strax barks. "They are unarmed!"

"So are we!" Jenny exasperates.

"Don't divulge our military secrets."

The creatures begin to walk toward them slowly, one ghastly figure for each hostage, each of them holding a single arm out toward their prey. Except for the one marching toward Peyton, who has both arms raised.

"What do we do?" Clara whispers.

"I... I'm..." Peyton mutters. "Doctor!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Strax pick up a metal pipe from the floor, lunging at his predator. A line where the weapon should have hit its body appears, creating two seperate halves, its torso floating an inch above its legs.

"Ha!" Strax shouts. "Do you want me to do that again?"

The creature's body knits itself back together and continues its approach.

Peyton's back meets a cold surface but she keeps her grip right around Clara's hand.

"Doctor _who_?" She hears the man say as the monsters fingertips approach her chest.

"I am not afraid of you," Peyton says, swelling up her chest, ignoring the tears in her eyes. The monster doesn't seem to notice however as both its hands disappear inside of her, knocking the wind from her lungs.

That's when the awful pain begins.

It's as if the creature has its fists wrapped around each of her hearts, squeezing and squeezing, forcing her to cry out.

"Doctor!" She hears Clara yelp as a creature takes a hold of her heart as well.

Peyton doesn't know how long this goes on for. As her vision begins to tunnel and her throat hurts from screaming, she hardly notices her and Clara's hands falling away from one another.

It takes a moment to register when she falls to the ground, sucking in air with deep rattling breaths. She looks over to Clara who is in a similar position, trying to push herself onto her knees.

But then, beyond her, a sliver of light catches Peyton's attention. She rolls onto her side to get a better look at the doors behind the Doctor and this man opening slowly. No! He can't have.

"The Tardis can still hear me." Peyton hears River's voice again. "Lucky thing, since him indoors is being so useless!"

"Why did you open the door, sir?" Strax complains as he sits up. "I had them on the run!"

"I didn't do it," the Doctors pales. "I didn't say my name."

"No, but I did."

Peyton sits herself up and coughs harshly. She helps Clara beside her sit up too as she struggles to breath regularly again.

"Is everyone alright?" The Doctor asks, turning to the group of them. "Is everyone okay?"

The Doctor flits over to Clara just as she starts shuddering with a huge coughing fit.

"Clara, try to breathe now," he instructs, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"That was not nice," Peyton wheezes.

"I know. I'm sorry," the Doctor leans forward, wrapping an arm around each of his companions and holding them close.

He helps them both to their feet before turning back to the imposing stranger. "Now then, Dr Simeon... or Mr G. Intelligence, whatever I call you... do you know what's in there?"

"For me, peace at last," this Dr Simeon sneers. "For you, pain everlasting. Won't you invite us in?"

The Doctor takes a deep steadying breath as he comes to terms with what is too come.

Peyton shakes her head as she watches the Doctor slowly walk toward the light and with a grunt, push the heavy stone doors apart. To reaveal the bottom of the console room, covered in vines and dirt.

"After you," Simeon chuckles.

• • •

"What's that?" Peyton stares ahead at the beam of silver light in place of where the central console should be. It pulses and moves, wrapping around itself like barbed wire.

"What we're you expecting, a body?" The Doctor scoffs as he reaches the flight deck, Peyton and Clara shortly behind him.

Dr Simeon and his cronies stand waiting on the other side of the light.

"Bodies are boring," the Doctor continues. "I've had loads of them. That's not what my tomb is for."

"But what is the light?" Vastra asks. As she arrives on the flight deck.

"It's beautiful," Jenny gasps.

"Should I destroy it?"

"Stup up, Strax," Vastra hisses.

"Doctor, explain. What is that?" Clara looks to the Time Lord who stares into the light, both enraptured and horrified at the sight of it.

"The tracks of my tears," he says beautifully.

"Less poetry, Doctor. Just tell them," Simeon spits.

"Time travel is... damage," the Doctor tears himself away from the light to pace around it. "It's like a tear in the fabric of reality. That is the scar tissue of my journey through the universe. My path through time and space, from Gallifrey to Trenzalore."

He points his sonic screwdriver at the beam and faint voices begin to seep through.

"My own personal time tunnel. All the days, even the ones that... I, er, even the ones that I haven't lived yet."

The Doctor shakes his head violently as if something is paining him and falls to the ground.

"Doctor!" Both Peyton and Clara call out, running to his side and crouching down to him.

"No. No. Which is why I should be here," the Doctor struggles, clutching his collar. "The paradox is... it's very bad."

"No. What are you doing? The Doctor cries out. "Somebody stop him!"

Peyton looks up from him to see Dr Simeon stalking toward the beam intently.

"The Doctor's life is an open wound," the sinister man explains. "And an open wound can be entered."

"No, it would destroy you," the Doctor pleads.

"Not at all," he disagrees. "It will kill me. It will destroy you. I can rewrite your every living moment. I can turn every one of your victories into defeats. Poison every friendship. Deliver pain to your every breath."

"It will burn you up," the Doctor reasons, still wanting to save this man's life despite everything he's doing. "Once you go through, you can't come back. You will be scattered along my timeline, like confetti."

"It matters not, Doctor. You thwarted me at every turn. Now, you will give me peace, as I take my revenge on every second of your life! Goodbye. Goodbye, Doctor."

Simeon steps backwards into the beam and with a scream, his creatures disappear into thin air.

The room shakes with the force of the man being destroyed by the light, Peyton holding tight to the Doctor.

The Doctor suddenly cries out in pain, screaming beneath her and Clara.

"What's wrong with him?" Clara yells tears streaming down her face. "What's happening?"

"He's being rewritten!" Peyton sits back on her haunches staring down at the man writhing in pain on the floor. If all of his victories are being rewritten, what will happen to her? She was only born because the Doctor span the clock back, reversing whatever unfortunate events that led her mother to lose her while still carrying her. Will she just disappear?

"Simeon is attacking his entire timeline!" Vastra shouts as Peyton feels her own fat tears spill over her cheeks. "He's dying all at once. The Dalek Asylum, Androzani-"

"What did you say?" Clara looks up at her. "Did you say the Dalek Asylum?"

"Now he's dying in London, with us!" Vastra wails.

" _It is done_."

Simeon's voice echoes though the room as the light turns from its silver shimmer to a deep red.

Peyton tries to hold the Doctor close as he thrashes in agony, breaking her heart with every second.

"Oh, dear Goddess," Vastra gasps.

"What's wrong?" Jenny asks.

"A universe without the Doctor? There will be consequences. Jenny with me."

Vastra heads back down the stairwell followed by her wife and Strax. The Doctor quiet, now only shuddering every so often, his eyes dropping closed. Peyton tries to hold his head in her lap, trying to keep him awake. He can't leave her, she's lost so much.

"The Dalek Asylum," Clara repeats. "You said it was me that saved you both, how? Victorian London. How, how could I have been in Victorian London?"

Peyton looks up from the Doctor to the pulsating red light and then to Clara.

Scattered through my timeline like confetti.

She watches Clara lift her gaze as well, staring ahead as the light.

"No. Please, stop. My life... my whole life is burning," the Doctor splutters.

"I have to go in there," Clara says, her tone surprisingly calm.

"Please... please..." the Doctor groans. "No."

"But this is what I've already done," Clara says, steadfast and unyielding. "You've already seen me do it. I'm the Impossible Girl, and this is why."

"Clara, are you sure about this?" Peyton lifts a hand to rest on her shoulder. "There's no coming back if you are."

"Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't," River says, appearing again behind the light.

"If I step in there... what happens?"

"The time winds will tear you into a million pieces," River explains. "A million versions of you, living and dying all over time and space. Like... echoes."

"But the echoes could save the Doctor, right?"

"But they won't be you. The real you will die," River insists. "They'll just be copies."

"But they'll be real enough to save him." She pauses, looking to Peyton who has begun to feel feint and dizzy. "They'll be real enough to save you too. It's like my mum said... the soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe. It's the only way to save him, isn't it?"

She reaches down to stroke the Doctor's cheek.

"Clara..." Peyton says, fighting the lump in her throat. "You don't have to do this."

"The stars are going out," Vastra says as she re-emerges from below the flight deck. "And Jenny and Strax are dead. There must be something we can do."

Clara gets to her feet.

"Clara..." Peyton says, looking up at her through wet eyes. She struggles for a moment to find the right thing to say. "I can't lose anyone else."

"You'll have him," she smiles down at her. She crouching back down for a second to run a hand over Peyton's hair. She smirks. "I didn't think you liked me very much anyway."

"No, don't say that," Peyton sobs, grabbing her hand as she straightens up again.

Clara chuckles. "This is for the best. This way I won't spend the rest of my life running around after you, trying to get you to finally notice my flirting."

Peyton is stunned for a second. She though she had just imagined Clara's subtle compliments and advances, she feels like an idiot. "Clara Oswald, you are one of the bravest women I have ever met."

She smiles before looking back to the light and stepping away from Peyton and the Doctor's body.

"Well, how about that," she begins. "I'm Soufflé Girl after all."

"No... please,,," the Doctor mutters.

"If this works, get out of here as fast as you can. And... spare me a thought now and then."

"No. Clara!" The Doctor groans, trying to roll out of Peyton's lap but she holds him down. Staring up at Clara with awe in her eyes and tears on her face, Peyton's hearts are filled with admiration for this woman.

"In fact, you know what," Clara says, whipping her head around to look down at the two time travellers. "Run. Run, you clever two. And remember me."

And with one last sad smile toward Peyton, Clara Oswald leaps into the light.

"Clara!" The Doctor screams.

The light turns silver again, causing Peyton to shut her eyes tight and flinch away.

• • •

"It was an unprovoked and violent attack, but that's no excuse," Strax says. He had wandered back into the room not long after the Doctor had recovered alongside Jenny who was greeted with a long and loving embrace from Vastra

Peyton leans back against the railing, her hands gripping the metal either side of her hips and she stares at the floor under the beam of light as the Doctor paces beside her.

"We are all restored, that is all that matter how," Vastra agrees.

"We are not all restored," the Doctor objects, ceasing his pacing to glare at them.

"You can't go in there. It's your own time stream, for God's sake," River says, knowing her warnings will fall on deaf ears.

"I have to get her back," the Doctor says firmly.

"Of course, but not like this," River says.

"But how?" Peyton looks to him, tiredly. "Is she even still alive? That thing killed Dr Simeon."

"Clara's got one advantage over the Great Intelligence," the Doctor says confidently .

"Which is?" Vastra asks.

"Me."

"Doctor, please listen to me, at least hear me," River pleads.

"Now, if I don't come back... And I might not..."

"Doctor, don't," Peyton springs off the rail and grabs his sleeve. "I'm not losing you, not today, not like this."

"Get to the Tardis," he ignores her. "The fast return protocols should be on. She'll take you all home, then shut herself down."

"There has to be another way," River reasons, stepping toward him . "Use the Tardis, use something. Save her, yes, but for God's sake, be sensible!"

She raises a hand to slap him but he turns and catches it in mid air.

Peyton stumbles back. That's not possible.

"How are you even doing that?" River stammers, just as shocked as Peyton is. "I'm not really here."

"You're always here, to me," the Doctor answers. "And I always listen. And I can always see you."

"Then why didn't you speak to me?" River frowns, pain lacing her voice.

"Because I thought it would hurt too much."

"I believe I could have coped."

"No, I thought it would hurt me. And I was right."

The Doctor leans forward and places a hand either side of River Song's face and presses a deep kiss to her lips.

Peyton looks away bashfully, even from beyond the grave, Melody Pond still manages to embarrass her.

"Since nobody else but Peyton in this room can see you, God knows how that looked."

Peyton glances toward the Peternoster gang across the flight deck who are all standing very stiffly with deeply concerned expressions plastered on their faces.

"There is a time to live and a time to sleep," the Doctor says after a breadth of silence. "You are an echo, River, Like Clara. Like all of us, in the end. My fault, I know, but you should have faded by now."

"It's hard to leave when you haven't said goodbye."

"Then tell me. Because I don't know. How do I say it?"

"There's only one way I would accept," River sighs. "If you ever loved me.. say it like you're going to come back."

The Doctor doesn't say anything for a few seconds. "Well, then..." he steps backwards away from her and beside Peyton with his head bowed. He looks back up to her. "See you around, Professor River Song."

"Till the next time, Doctor."

"Don't wait up."

"Later, Mels," Peyton says, wiping at her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Thank you."

"No, thank you, Peyton," River smiles. "Oh, and there's one more thing."

The Doctor chuckles. "Isn't there always?"

"I was mentally linked with Clara, Peyton, you were too. If she's really dead, why can I still feel her? Peyton, you can feel it too, right."

Peyton knits her eyebrows together in confusion, but then she widens her eyes in shock. In her mind, she can still feel Clara's warmth, she can still smell her sweet perfume.

"Okay," the Doctor frowns, looking between Peyton and River. "How?"

"Spoilers," she smirks.

"Goodbye, Peyton. Goodbye... sweetie."

River Song fades into the air and Peyton releases a rattling breath. A thousand childhood memories swarm in the front of her mind, of the four Leadworth kids laughing and playing and without a care in the world. All but Melody Zucker completely unaware of their tangled future.

The Doctor says nothing for a time. He doesn't even move.

Slowly he turns to Peyton and presses a kiss in her hair. Peyton watches him step away, looking down at her with a sad smile before turning to the light and stepping into it.

Peyton shields her eyes with her forearm as the light grows brilliantly. Once it dims she lowers her arm and stares into it.

"What will you do now?" Jenny asks, Peyton hadn't even noticed that she had made her way toward her.

"Clara survived, I could feel her. The Doctor survived too," Peyton says, perhaps just to make herself believe it. "He'll turn up. He always does. And he'll find me. Come on, let's go home."

As Peyton turns to leave, the light of the tear brightens yet again filling the room with light and warmth.

She hears a pair of heavy footsteps behind her.


	47. The Day When This Time, There Were Three

Peyton places the Tardis phone back in its box on the front of the door before waltzing back into the time machine where the Doctor was settling into a book by the stairs.

"You know," she hums. "I should become a teacher, I'd be great at teaching."

She had just got off the phone after leaving a message with the Coal Hill Secondary receptionist for Clara who wasn't picking up her phone, presumably because she was in the middle of an English lesson.

For almost three years now Clara has been travelling with the Doctor and Peyton, not for earth but for them. The animosity of the past behind them, Peyton had found herself considering Clara a friend, telling her more about her past, he adventures with Amy and Rory and about her father.

"Hmm?" The Doctor says not looking up from his book. "Yes. Of course. What would you teach? Physics? Math?"

Peyton pulls a face as she leans her forearms on the railing by where the Doctor is sitting, looking down at him. "I rather thought I'm more than qualified to teach history."

The Doctor laughs sarcastically. "Oh, are you going to tell them about the time you snogged Virginia Woolf? Or what about Charlie Chaplin? I could go on-"

"I was having a phase," Peyton interrupts staring daggers into the back of his head. "Any way, most of the time I was largely inebriated."

"Yeah," the Doctor chuckles softly, lowering his book for a second, making sure to leave a finger between the pages. "You and Amy would get so competitive about who could drink more and poor Rory had to sit you both down and give you a lecture on alcohol poisoning."

Peyton smiles sadly for a moment before jumping down the stairs to sit next to him. "What are you reading?"

• • •

The sound of a motorcycle horn causes Peyton to look up to the door, raising her hands in the air and clapping twice. Both doors fall inward and in the distance, she spots a figure on a bike racing toward them.

With a roar, the motercycle skids to a stop inches away from the console, its rider jumping off before pulling her helmet off and shaking out her hair.

"Draught," the Doctor, says almost boredly without looking up from his book.

With a snap of her gloved fingers, Clara closes the doors, the Tardis much more endeared to her than when she first jumped aboard the space ship.

"Fancy a week in Ancient Mesopotamia," the Doctor says, snapping his book shut and looking over his shoulder at the woman. "Followed by future Mars?"

"Will there be cocktails?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.

"On the moon," Peyton nods as the Doctor gets to his feet, pulling his glasses from his face and placing them in his pocket.

"The moon'll do."

"Haha!" The Doctor cheers, breaking character and racing up to Clara who meets him halfway as they embrace eachother in a tight hug. The Doctor lifts her up and spins her around, causing her to laugh even louder.

"Alright, alright," Peyton groans in a sarcastic voice. The Doctor places Clara on the ground again, letting her go so that she can wrap her arms around Peyton's neck too.

It has been a while since they've seen each other, Clara had requested a couple weeks to herself as she settled into the school.

"How's the new job?" The Doctor asks and Peyton and Clara seperate. "Teach anything good?"

"No," Clara sighs. She looks down to the book the Doctor was reading, discarded on the top step. "Learn anything?"

"Not a thing," he smiles.

A great metallic cluncking interrupts their reunion and Peyton immediately steps around the two towards the Tardis monitor.

ALERT  
TARDIS INTERFERENCE  
DETECTED

The Tardis groans.

"What's happening?" Clara asks.

The time machine trembles. "Whoa, whoa," the Doctor looks down at the controls. "We're taking off, but the engines aren't going."

"Doctor, this isn't possible," Peyton says, feverishly flicking switches to launch the Tardis into flight, perhaps they can shake off whatever this intereference is. "We can't take flight!"

The room pitches, causing Clara to bump into Peyton as the both hold tight to the console.

"I'm going to have a look!" The Doctor yells, running toward the doors.

"That seems very unsafe," Clara warns.

The Doctor sends a lopsided smile their way again before he throws open the door.

The loud whirring of a helicopter can be heard loud and clear as Peyton tries to look past the Doctor, nothing but grey sky in view.

She sees the Doctor look down then up, before reaching for the phone with one hand and clinging to the door for dear life with the other.

"It's the Doctor!" He yells into the microphone over the sound of the wind.

Who ever is on the other end of the line takes there time in answering before the Doctor shouts back. "No kidding!"

Peyton can't figure out what the person on the line must have said to make the Doctor hold the phone up above his head before bringing it back to his ear.

Another jolt of the Tardis causes the Doctor to tumble out of the doors with a scream, his coat flapping in the wind.

"Doctor!" Peyton and Clara shriek, diving to catch his legs as he dangles out of the Tardis, his arms outstretched toward the city of London below.

The phone, dangling by its cord, hits the Time Lord in the face, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Next time, would it kill you to knock?" He barks into it once he gets his hands around it.

Peyton and Clara share a look as they kneel precariously close to a daunting fall, holding the Doctor down to the floor as best they can.

Much to their dismay, the crazy man starts laughing and whooping cheerfully. "I'm just going to put you on hold!"

He throws the phone up towards the Tardis doors and Peyton lifts her hands up to catch it, but in doing so, the Doctor falls forward from their grip.

"Doctor!" They both scream as the lean further out of the door, only see the Doctor's feet dangling not to far below.

Peyton motions for Clara to shuffle back a little and hold her as she leans further out and stick her head below the Tardis where she is greeted by the Doctor's goofy face, his hands holding on to something under the Tardis floor.

• • •

Peyton jumps out of the Tardis as it hovers a foot or so above the ground outside the National Gallery.

"Doctor, as Chief Scientific Officer, may I extended the offical apologies of U.N.I.T," Kate Stewart says loudly as she steps forward.

Peyton looks around to see a crowd gathered behind metal barricades on all sides of Trafalgar Square and just a couple of U.N.I.T soldiers behind Kate and Miss Osgood beneath the chopper.

"Kate Lethbridge-Stewart a word to the wise," the Doctor huffs. "As I'm sure your father would've told you, I don't like being picked up."

"That probably sounded better in his head," Peyton shrugs.

"Well, I did call you, this could have been avoided quite easily." Kate raises and eyebrow, holding her coat close to her body against the wind.

Peyton pulls her phone out of her jacket pocket to see that there were two missed calls from U.N.I.T and one from Kate's personal phone. "Sorry, it must have bumped on silent."

"Well, I'm acting on instructions direct from the throne," Kate continues as Osgood pulls something, a small yellowed piece of parchment from her pocket and offers it toward the Doctor. "Sealed orders from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the First."

"The Queen?" Clara says, taken aback. "The First? Sorry, Elizabeth the First?"

"Wait, what happened?" Peyton frowns, snatching the letter from the Doctor's hands. The letter had been stored in the Archive for years. Never allowed to look inside, all she knew is that it was to be delievered to the Doctor when something bad has occurred within the Gallery.

"Well, yes. And you would have known this if you had attended any of this weeks briefings." Peyton shrugs at this. "Her credentials are inside," Kate says nodding to the envelope. The Doctor snatched the letter from a Peyton's hands and breaks the seal. "No, inside." She points behind her to the Gallery.

The Doctor pauses for a moment before casting his eye down to Petronella. "Nice scarf." He nods before walking past them and the soldiers toward the gallery.

Peyton watches Clara follow the Doctor but stays back a second longer with Kate and Petronella.

"What's our cover story for this?" Peyton asks, eyeing the spectators.

"Um, Derren Brown," Osgood says.

"Again?" Kate eyes her colleagues.

"Oh, we've sent him flowers."

• • •

"Did you know her? Elizabeth the First?" Clara asks as they are guided through the empty Gallery.

Peyton snickers, having heard the stories. She had jogged a little to catch up to the two as they had entered the building.

"The Unified Intelligence Task Force," the Doctor ignores her.

"Sorry?"

"My lot," Peyton places herself between the Doctor and Clara. "U.N.I.T. We investigate alien stuff, anything alien."

"What, like you two?"

"We work for them," the Doctor says.

Peyton whips her head up to look at him. "No, you do not."

"I do too, and longer than you have!" The Doctor protests as two guards push open the heavy wooden doors ahead.

"You have a job?" Clara asks, leaning infront of Peyton to look up at the Doctor, unconvinced.

"Why shouldn't I have a job? I'd be brilliant at having a job."

"You don't have a job," Clara insists with a laugh.

"I do, this is my job. I'm doing it right now."

"You never have a job."

"I do!"

"Will you two be quiet?" Peyton asks, shoving them both away from her lightly.

The three come to a stop between a huge veiled painting in the middle of the room. Peyton bites her lip in anticipation. She knows exactly what's under there.

Two soldiers pull off the white sheet from either side and reveal the dark scene in the frame. Orange and brown detail the city and the flames, black smoke drifting toward the sky.

The wasn't like any picture of Gallifrey that Peyton had seen in the Tardis library or archives. This was Gallifrey on its last day.

"Elizabeth's credentials, Doctor," Peyton says, folding her arms.

"But..." Clara tilts her head after a few seconds of silence. "But that's not possible."

"No More," the Doctor mutters.

"That's the title," Kate says.

"I know the title," the Doctor spits. Peyton frowns slightly, looking up toward his sullen face. She thought he would have been overjoyed to see the painting, she knows she was when she first was shown it in the Under Gallery.

"Also known as Gallifrey Falls," Peyton continues uneasily.

"This painting doesn't belong here," the Doctor says quietly. "Not in this time or place."

"Obviously," Clara whispers.

"It's the fall of Arcadia, Gallifrey's second city," he says.

"But how's it doing that?" Clara asks stepping forward. "How is that possible? It's an oil painting... in 3D."

"Time Lord art," Peyton explains. "Bigger on this inside. A slice of real time, frozen in an image."

A strong grip on her bicep causes Peyton to look up to the Doctor.

"You knew this was here?" His voice is low and angry.

"Elizabeth told us where to find it," Kate interrupts, Peyton smiles at her thankfully as the Doctor's grip loosens. "And it's significance."

"Are you okay?" Clara asks in a hushed tone, looking up to the Doctor. Peyton notices that he has reached for her hand.

"He was there," he says, his voice trembling and his eyes still trained on the painting

"Who was?" Clara squeezes his hand.

"Me. The other me. The one I don't talk about," the Doctor says darkly.

Peyton swallows back a thick lump in her throat. She looks back to the painting, suddenly realising what it was. It's not some beautiful painting of a long forgotten war. He was there, this is his past. The day he wiped out their people.

"I don't understand," Clara says.

"I've had many faces, many lives," the Doctor begins. "I don't admit to all of them. There's one life I've tried... very hard to forget. He was the Doctor who fought in the Time War, and _that_ was the day he did it, the day I did it. The day he killed them all. The last day of the Time War. The war to end all wars between my people and the Daleks. And in that battle, there was a man with more blood on his hands than any other. A man who would commit a crime that would silence the universe, and that man... was me."

"But the Time War's over," Clara says, looking to Kate. "Why have you brought us here to look at a painting?"

"The painting only serves as Elizabeth's credentials," Peyton explains hastily wiping at her eyes with the back of her wrist. "Proof that the letter is from her. It's not why we're here. So, Kate, why are we here?"

Kate nods to the Doctor who pulls out Elizabeth's letter, unfolding it and beginning to read. Peyton walks by his shoulder so she can read over it.

_My dearest love,_   
_I hope the painting known as Gallifrey Falls will serve as proof that it is your Elizabeth who writes to you now._   
_You will recall that you pledged yourself to the safety of my kingdom. In this capacity, I have appointed you as curator of the Under Gallery where deadly danger to England is locked away. Should any disturbance occurs within its walls, it is my wish that you be summoned._

_God speed, gentle husband._

_E.R._

"What happened?" The Doctor whispers, echoing Peyton.

"Easier to show you," Kates says, turning on her heel and heading toward an adjacent door.

The Doctor briskly follows her, leaving Peyton and Clara to walk behind him, Clara looking across at Peyton anxiously every so often.

• • •

The roller door of the under gallery slams behind them as the three Time Travellers stand in its entrance looking up at a large pairing of Elizabeth the Fitst standing beside one of the Doctor's past faces, the last one if her memory serves her correctly.

"Elizabeth the First?" Clara says, looking up in awe at the painting. "You knew her then?"

"A long time ago."

"This way," Kate says, grabbing a hold of one side of the picture frame, pulling it toward her revealing that its covering a secret passage way. "Welcome to the Under Gallery. This is where Elizabeth the First kept all art deemed too dangerous for public consumption."

Kate leads them down a passageway, statues with white sheets covering them line the walls, white sand covering the floor.

Peyton notices that the Doctor has stopped behind her. She turns to see him crouched on the floor, letting the sand trickle through his fingers.

"Stone dust," he observes.

"It's an old room," Peyton says, raising an eyebrow.

"Is it important?" Kate asks.

"In twelve hundred years, I've never stepped in anything that wasn't. Oi you!" He turns pointing to Petronella who is still standing in the Under Gallery's entrance. "Are you sciencey?"

"Oh, um. Well, um... yes," she stammers as she walks into the corridor.

"Got a name?"

"Yes."

"Good, I've always wanted to meet someone called Yes." Peyton hopes he's joking. "Now, I want this stone dust analysed. And I want a report in triplicate, with lots of graphs and diagrams and complicated sums, on my desk, tomorrow morning, ASAP, pronto, L O L" he turns to Clara. "See? Job." He turns to Kate. "Do I have a desk?"

"No."

"And I want a desk."

"My desk is fine," Peyton sighs in Osgood's direction with an apologetic smile.

"Get a team, analyse the stone dust," Kate orders before turning back in the direction they were headed. The time travellers follow quickly.

Osgood quietly wheezes behind them. "Inhaler," Peyton calls over her shoulder. She knows Petronella is obsessed with the Doctor, always has been. Peyton offered once to bring her along for a trip in the box, but the poor girl had shaken her head. Though she was brilliant and one of the most innovative scientist U.N.I.T has been, she struggles with horrible anxiety and panic attacks.

As they wander through the hallways of forbidden art, Peyton watches Clara's amazement as she stares around at every painting and artefact. Many being alien in origin, left behind in failed incursions or the like.

Behind her, she can hear the Doctor opening a cabinet. She turns to see him placing a fez on his head, beaming at her with the enthusiasm of a child in a sweet shop.

"Someday, you could just walk past a fez," Peyton says, unimpressed.

"Never gonna happen," he says, pointing finger guns at her before walking toward Clara, who seems to be amused by his choice of headwear.

Peyton follows the Doctor and Clara into a room that looks more like the rest of the museum, with three large paintings hanging on the white wall side by side. Except, as they study the paintings, the first thing Peyton notices is the glass all over the floor, missing from the frames themselves. Then, the fact that the images themselves were more examples of Time Lord art, bigger on the inside oil paintings.

"This is why we called you in," Kate says.

"3D again," Clara notes.

"Interesting," the Doctor puzzles.

"The broken glass?" Peyton looks up to him.

"No," he says quickly. "Where it's broken from."

He steps forward, the shattered glass crouching under his boots as he delicately picks up a large shard.

"Look at the shatter pattern," he instructs.

Peyton crouches down immediately, picking up a piece for herself.

"The glass on all these paintings has been broken from the inside," the Doctor turns on his heel, tossing the piece of glass back over his head as he begins to pace.

Peyton elects to stand up before he throws more glass around.

"As you can see, all the paintings are landscapes, no figures of any kind," Kate continues.

"So?" Peyton raises an eyebrow at her.

"There used to be." She passes a tablet to the Doctor who holds it up to the middle painting, a canyon-like scene. In the image on the tablet, figures can be clearly seen trekking through the valley, but when Peyton's eyes flick back to the canvas in front of them, no such figures seem to exist.

"Something's got out of the paintings," Clara frowns as she looks over the doctor's shoulder.

"Lots of somethings," Peyton adds, eyeing the two images on either side.

"Dangerous somethings," the Doctor mutters.

"This whole place has been searched," Kate says. "There's nothing here that shouldn't be, and nothing's got out."

With a crack and a flash, all eyes turn to the corner of the ceiling where a pale yellow vortex-like apparition has appeared.

Peyton reflexively reaches for her sonic but as she looks to the Doctor, she notices that he doesn't seem too worried.

"Oh, no! Not now!" The Doctor complains, as if the situation were nothing more than an inconvenience.

"Doctor, what is it?" Peyton hisses at him with a glare.

"No, not now. I'm busy!"

"Is it to do with the paintings?" Kate asks.

"No, no. This is different," he stares at the light as it pulses and hums with energy. "I remember this. Almost remember."

Peyton and Clara share a concerned glance.

He steps forward and takes off his fez looking at it scrutinisingly. "Oh, of course. This is where I come in."

The Doctor turns back to the three women before taking a couple of steps their way, beaming like a mad man.

Out of nowhere, he launches himself forward, tossing the fez through the portal like a frisbee before diving through himself with a great cry. "Geronimo!"

"Doctor!" Clara exclaims but Peyton grabs her arm before she can go barrelling after the mad man.

"Where did he go, Peyton do you know what that is?" Kate says, eyes fixed on the shimmering portal.

"No... I," Peyton fumbles with her sonic pen for a second before pointing it up at the vortex. The sonic struggles for a few seconds and when she brings it back down to eye level to investigate the results, nothing can be found. "It doesn't exist, or at the very least shouldn't exist."

"Very helpful," Clara folds her arms, stepping closer before Peyton grabs the back of her collar, knowing she was about to try dive after him.

Clara shakes her off before taking another step closer, but before Peyton can chastise her, Clara turns back to them. "I can hear voices," she says. Peyton and Kate step closer with her. "I think it's him."

"Doctor?" Peyton calls out. "Is that you?"

"Ah! Hello, Peyton! Can you hear me?" The Doctor's voice projects through the portal.

"Yeah, it's us, we can hear you," Clara answers. "Where are you?"

"Where are we?" The Doctor asks in a very casual tone.

"England. 1562," a man replies.

"Who are you talking to?" Clara frowns.

"Myself." The two men answer at the same time. Peyton bites her lip. What is going on? It can't possibly be him, can it?

"Can you come back through?" Kate inquires.

"Physical passage may not be possible in both directions. It's... ah!" The Doctor explains. "Hang on! Fez incoming!"

Peyton waits a few seconds, expecting the red hat to come flying her way any second now, but nothing happens. "Nothing here."

"Who's he talking to?" Clara asks, turning to Peyton.

"He said, himself," Peyton says, squinting her eyes at the vortex, racking her brain for any answer that would make sense. Unless it really is that obvious, the wormhole could be a fissure in time, sending the Doctor back to a past or future version of himself. A highly dangerous even in any case.

"Keep him talking," Kate instructs, pulling out her phone and walking back through the gallery.

"What the hell is he doing?" Clara folds her arms. "Sonic it, do something!"

"I tried that," Peyton taps her on the head with her sonic. "Where'd Kate go?"

"I heard her talking to someone on her phone about case files and the eighties," Clara says. "Do you reckon it's safe to follow him? The Doctor seems fine."

"Just because the Doctor recklessly jumps through a mysterious vortex, doesn't mean we should," Peyton chastises. "I think someone else is there now."

The quality of the noise coming through the portal seems to crackle and fluctuate like an old radio, making it difficult to make out what the Doctor and the strangers are saying.

What Peyton can make out, however, is the sudden rise in volume, shouts and metal bashing against wood and undergrowth.

"What's he gotten himself into now?" Clara sighs.

The sound of Kate's heels clicking against the wood floor cause Peyton to turn and look at her as she flexes her neck, as if stretching.

"I think there's three of them now," Peyton grimaces.

"There's a precedent for that," Kate shrugs.

"Oh, the pointing again!" An older man groans loudly, the one Peyton assumes may be another Doctor, causing Peyton to refocus her attention on the portal. "They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?"

"That thing," a scared man asks. "What witchcraft is it?"

"Ah, yes!" The Doctor laughs. "Now that you mention it, that is witchcraft. Yes, yes, yes. Witchity-witchcraft. Hello? Hello, hello in there? Hello! Am I talking to the wicked witches of the well?"

"He means you two," Kate says.

"Why are we witches?" Clara groans.

"Peyton? Clara?"

"Hello?" Peyton projects.

"Peyton, hi, hello. Would you mind telling these prattling mortals to get themselves begone?"

"What he said," Peyton says awkwardly.

"Yes, tiny bit more colour," the Doctor complains.

"Right," Clara huffs. "Prattling mortals, off you pop, or I'll turn you all into frogs!"

"Frogs?" Peyton mouths at Clara with a confused expression. She shrugs.

"Oh, frogs, nice. You heard her."

"Doctor, what's going on?" Peyton asks.

"It's er... a timey-wimey thing."

"Timey-wimey?" The older Doctor scoffs.

A great shout erupts from whoever had the Doctor and his new friend's surrounded.

"You don't seem to be kneeling," a woman says. "How tremendously brave of you."

"Which one are you? What happened to the other one?" The younger Doctor questions.

"Indisposed. Long live the queen!"

"Long live the Queen!" The soldiers chorus.

"Arrest these men. Take them to the Tower."

"That is not the Queen of England. That is an alien duplicate!" The younger Doctor shouts.

"And you can take it from him, cause he's really checked," Peyton's Doctor remarks. "With venom sacs in the tongue."

"Seriously, stop it!"

"No, hang on, the Tower! Did you say the Tower?" The familiar Doctor says. "Ah, yes, brilliant, love the Tower. Breakfast at eight, please. Will there be Wi-Fi?"

"Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?" The older Doctor chastises. Peyton fights a snicker.

"Yes... No. I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower immediately with my co-conspirators, Sandshoes and Grandad!"

" _Grandad_?!"

"They're _not_ sandshoes!"

"Yes, they are!"

"Silence! The Tower is not to be taken lightly," the Queen, or perhaps not, demands. "Very few emerge again."

"Dear God, I hate to say it but that man's clever," Peyton shakes her head. "Kate, how fast can we get there?"

Kate looks down at her tablet. "Should be about fifteen minutes. Knew we kept you around for something."

"Wait," Clara shakes her head in confusion as the other two women begin to walk away. "Where are we going?"

"My office," Peyton says, turning around to walk backwards into the corridor. "Otherwise known as the Tower of London."

• • •

"The Black Archive," Kate explains as the three of them walk down the dark corridor. "Highest security rating on the planet. The entire staff have their memories wiped at the end of every shift. Automated memory filters in the ceiling. Access, please."

"Ma'am," the guard nods in both Kate and Peyton's directions as the two of them flash their ID cards.

"Atkins, isn't it?" Peyton asks as Kate hands a set of keys to the guard.

"Yes, ma'am. First day here," he smiles.

"Been here ten years," Kate whispers in Clara's direction.

As the door is pulled open, Kate leads them through before shutting the door behind them, locking it from the inside as well.

"Lock and key?" Clara frowns. "Bit basic, isn't it?"

"Can't afford electronic security down here, got to keep the Doctor out," Peyton explains before continuing on through the maze of shelves. "The whole of the Tower is Tardis proofed with my help, of course."

"He really wouldn't approve of the collection," Kate adds.

"Wait, so, you're working _against_ the Doctor, behind his back. How can you betray his trust like that?" Clara asks, a little offended.

Peyton stops before turning to her and leaning against a shelf. "Oh, no. The Doctor is fully aware of my role and duty here. He may be a thousand-year-old alien with a saviour complex, but I'm from here. I know what's best for Earth and its inhabitants. He's not my dad, I let him know what he needs to know, and keep confidential what doesn't concern him."

Clara's face gives away that she's unconvinced but Peyton pays her no mind.

"Ladies, can we move on?" Kate says rather uneasily.

Peyton studies the back of her head as they continue through the archive. She's acting strange, on edge. Why would she be in a hurry? Time travel does not have an expiry date.

"So of the Doctor's not allowed in, how come I am? I'm just an English teacher from Lancashire?" Clara asks.

"You have a top-level security rating from your last visit," Peyton looks over her shoulder toward her, giving her a warning look as she catches her reaching out to touch some of the artefacts on the shelves.

"Sorry, what?"

Kate points to a bulletin board tucked into an adjacent aisle which Clara quickly runs up to. "Apologies. We have to screen all of his known associates. We can't have information about the Doctor and the Tardis faking into the wrong hands. The consequences could be disastrous."

"You wiped my memory!" Clara scolds Peyton, storming up to her with a threatening finger pointed her way. "You wiped my memory without my permission?"

"We have your consent in writing in a drawer somewhere if it really bothers you," Peyton rolls away. "Anyway, shush, we're here."

Peyton catches up to Kate who is staring through the glass screen into the containment box that they keep on of the Archive's most dangerous items inside.

"What is that?" Clara asks as she arrives beside Peyton.

"Cheap and easy time travel," Peyton says, quoting the Doctor.

"A vortex manipulator, bequeathed to the U.N.I.T. By Captain Jack Harkness on the occasion of his death. Well, one of them," Peyton lies. That's not at all how this device came to call it's home this dusty podium, but that seems to be the story the Doctor had fed them all those years ago when the two of them had fished it out of the gutter in Leadworth. "No one can know we have this, not even out allies."

"Why not?"

"Think about it," Kate says. "Americans with the ability to rewrite history? You've seen their movies."

Peyton watches Kate out of the corner of her eye as she moves around the cube to open the door. Something is definitely off, but she can't tell what.

"Okay, so this is how we're going to rescue the Doctor?" Clara asks as she follows Kate. "Why can't Peyton just fly us there in the Tardis?"

"The Tardis is too big, the bulky," Peyton shakes her head. "If there really are three Doctors in a cell somewhere, the Time distortions are going to be massive. Maybe the Doctor could pilot through them but I can't. The Vortex Manipulator is like a motorcycle through traffic."

"But I'm not sure there's enough power for a two-way trip. In any event, we don't know the activation code." Kate steps inside. "The Doctor knows we have this, so he's always kept the code from us. Let's hope he changes his mind."

Kate's phone buzzes in her pocket and she pulls it out and brings it to her ear as Clara studies the vortex manipulator.

"Yes?" Kate answers.

Looking down at the device, a flood of memories return to Peyton. The last time she was this close to the thing, she was fleeing these very walls to start her new life. She looks away, pretending to be very interested in the door instead, fighting back the memories of her childhood.

"Well, if you've found it, photograph it and send it to my phone."

"Um, Peyton... Kate, should they be here?" Clara asks as Kate slams her phone down on the podium. "Why have they followed us?"

Peyton steps away from the door to look out the window to see Osgood and another scientist walking toward them. They aren't cleared to be in here. Something is most definitely up.

"Oh, they've probably just finished disposing of the humans a bit early," Kate says nonchalantly.

In two swift steps, Peyton crosses the chamber to stand in front of Clara, staring down the creature who is most certainly not Kate in front of them.

"Dear me," she sighs. "I really do get into character, don't I?"

Peyton watches in horror as not-Kate throws up red liquid, her skin beginning to sag around her face. She presses Clara up against the wall behind her, reaching for her sonic, trying to look threatening.

As her skin and clothes morph, Peyton recognised the alien standing in front of them. She had never had the misfortune of meeting one yet but the illustrations were clear. She's a Zygon.

"The Under Gallery is secured," the Zygon Osgood says, catching her commander's attention as a buzz from Kate's phone catches Peyton's.

An image lights up the screen, etching in a stone wall. Peyton recognises them immediately. A short string of symbols, the last few undeniably coordinates.

"We have acquired the device. Prepare to dispose of one more human. The halfling shall be contained, it may be of use to us yet."

Peyton lunges for the vortex manipulate, quickly attaching it to her wrist and tapping in the numerals. She grabs Clara's hand and places it on her forearm just above the device, giving it a squeeze to tell her to hold tight.

The Zygon turns back to them and Peyton smirks. "Activation code, right?"

It snarls as Peyton presses the button with a wink.

• • •

Peyton tumbles into the room with Clara's hand firmly in hers.

Her eyes widen as they land on the men beside the Doctor, one of which she recognises immediately from the Tardis archives as the Doctor's immediately previous face, and the other must be the Doctor that he tried to wipe from existence. The Doctor who destroyed his own world. Her father's world.

"How did you do that?" The Doctor asks unsurely.

"It wasn't locked," Clara says.

"Right."

"So they're both you, then, yeah?" Peyton says, eyeing the two Doctors.

"Yes. Clara, you've met them before, don't you remember?"

"A bit. Nice suit!" Clara looks the tenth Doctor up and down.

"Thanks." he smiles. It's then Peyton notices that he is staring right at her quizzically. "Have we met?"

Peyton decides its best to pretend that she didn't hear him. "Hang on," Peyton sighs, taking her hand out of Claras to rub her face in disbelief. "Three of you in once cell, and none of you thought to try the door."

"It should have been locked," the forgotten Doctor says.

"Yes, exactly! Why wasn't it locked?" The Doctor frowns, as if that was the problem here.

"Because I was fascinated to see what you would do upon escaping."

Peyton and Clara step aside as a woman in a very regal outfit and unmistakable red curls appears behind them

"I understand you're rather fond of this world. I think it's time you saw what's going to happen to it."

• • •

"The Zygons lost their own world," The Zygon-Elizabeth explains as she leads them through their base. "It burned in the first days of the Time War. A new home is required."

"So they want this one," Clara realises.

"Not yet," the Zygon duplicate says. "Far too primitive."

The group look down over a balcony to see many Zygons working below, doing what exactly, Peyton can't tell.

"Zygons are used to a certain level of comfort."

"Commander...." a Zygon appears behind them. "Why are these creatures here?"

"Because I say they should be," she retorts. "It is time you too were translated. Observe this."

All eyes are on the Zygon as it walks toward them and places its hand on a small glass cube on a podium.

The object glows before the Zygon slowly fades away before reappearing in a familiar oil painting on the wall that went unnoticed by the group until now.

"That's him! That's the Zygon in the picture now," Clara says in amazement.

"It's not a picture, it's a Statis Cube," the rugged Doctor says. "Time Lord art, frozen instants in time, bigger on the inside, but could be deployed as-"

"Suspended animation," Doctor number Ten finishes. Doctor Eleven snaps a finger gun in his direction. "Oh, that's very good."

"The Zygons all pop inside the pictures, wait a couple of centuries till the planet's a bit more interesting and then out they come," Peyton realises.

"Oh," the Tenth Doctor frowns at her, very surprised. "You're very clever. I see I still have good taste then."

Peyton blushes and hastily looks away. This will become very awkward if anything slips about her identity. Not to mention the effects on the timeline.

"You see, Clara," their Doctor speaks up. "They're stored in the paintings in the Under Gallery, like Cup-a-Soups. Except you add time, if you can picture that. Nobody can picture that. Forget I said Cup-a-Soups."

"And now the world is worth conquering," Clara whispers. "So the Zygons are invading the future... from the past."

"Exactly."

"And do you know why I know that you're a fake?" The tenth Doctor says out of nowhere. Peyton watches him turn back to the Zygon duplicate of England's second queen who seems to be watching them inquisitively. "Because you're such a bad copy. It's not just the smell, or the unconvincing hair, or the atrocious teeth, or the eyes just a bit too close though ether, or the breath that could stun a horse. It's because my Elizabeth, the _real_ Elizabeth, would never be stupid enough to reveal her own plan. Honestly, why would you do that?"

"Because it's not my plan," she replies sweetly. Before her tone turns dramatically. "And I _am_ the real Elizabeth."

"Okay," he says awkwardly. "So... backtracking a moment, just to lend some context to my earlier remarks..."

"My twin is dead in the forest," she explains in a hushed voice, pulling up her skirt to reveal a small dagger strapped to her thigh. "I am accustomed to taking precautions. These Zygon creatures never even considered that it was me who survived rather than their own commander, the arrogance that typifies their kind."

"Zygons?" Clara tilts her head.

"Men!"

Peyton laughs. "You actually killed one of them?"

"I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but at the time, so did the Zygon. The future of my kingdom is imperilled. Doctor, can I rely on your service?

"I'm going to need my Tardis," he nods.

"It has been procured already," she smiles. "But first, my love, you have a promise to keep."

• • •

"You've let this place go a bit," the War Doctor scoffs as they all pile into number Ten's Tardis as its owner preps the console.

"Ah, it's his grunge phase. He grows out of it," the Doctor shrugs, tossing the Stasis Cube in the air and catching it repeatedly.

The flight deck is familiar, almost as if Peyton had seen it before, she can't put her finger on where though.

She runs a hand along the side of the ragged console and the Tardis makes a pleasant hum, clearly recognising her. That's where she's seen this console room before! When they met the soul of the Tardis.

She meets the Tenth Doctor's eye by chance and he stares at her with the most peculiar and haunted look in his eye. She's seen that exact look a thousand times. Standing in front of her is the man that knew her father in the form he took to conceive her and as she's been told a thousand times, she's a spitting image of the estranged Time Lord.

Peyton tears her eyes away from him and steps away from the console. Despite the change in face, he really is the same person.

"Don't you listen to them," he coos at the console, stroking it lovingly, breaking out of whatever trance Peyton had momentarily put him under.

An alarm starts blaring and just as Peyton's Doctor lays a finger on the console, the room around them flashes and changes in an instant with a shower of sparks from the time rotor.

Peyton looks around. The walls now white and covered in circles, the console itself has taken on a more steampunk appearance than the eclectic homemade look that it had a second ago.

"Oh, the desktop is glitching!" Doctor Ten groans.

"Three of us from different time zones, it's trying to compensate," the youngest Doctor says. It feels weird for Peyton to refer to him this way as the alien does not look anything like the junior of his future selves.

"Hey, look, the round things," the eldest Doctor says excitedly.

"I love the round things," the Tenth Doctor smiles

"What are the round things?"

"No idea."

Another alarm blares. "The friction contrafibulator!" Peyton cries out. The Doctor is on it in an instant and the console room flashes again to the sleek design Peyton is familiar with.

"Ha! There! Stabilised," the Doctor throws his hands in the air.

"Oh, you've redecorated!" The Tenth Doctor stares around. "I don't like it."

"Oh? Oh, yeah. Oh, you never do," the Doctor snaps at him. "Listen, we're going to the National Gallery, the Zygons are underneath it."

"No, U.N.I.T. H.Q., they followed us there in the Black Archive!" Clara shouts before anyone can get started on piloting the Tardis. All three of the Doctors send a dark look her way. "So you've heard of that, then,"

• • •

"This is not a decision you will ever be able to live with!"

Icy silence falls in the Tardis after the tenth Doctor shouts into the radio. What Kate is trying to do is stupid and rash, and no one knows that more than the people standing in this console room.

The Tardis lurches as it bounces off the protocols protecting the Archive from the Doctor. "Kate, we're trying to bring the Tardis in, why can't we land?"

Peyton grimaces, knowing it was her work protecting the Tower.

"Kate, please, just listen to me!"

The radio is disconnected, cutting them off from the Archive and the missiles they have access to.

"The Tower of London, totally Tardis-proof," the Tenth Doctor screws up his face in concentration. "How can they even do that?"

"Alien technology plus human stupidity, trust me," he turns and glares at Peyton. "It's unbeatable."

Peyton, while not appreciating the glowering look he is giving her, appreciates that he is being vague enough to protect her identity from his former selves.

"We don't need to land," the War Doctor says.

"Yeah, we do," the Tenth Doctor says, his voice raised an octave. "A tiny bit. Try and keep up."

"No, we don't," he chuckles, walking around the console toward the eleventh Doctor and Peyton. "We don't. There is another way."

He picks up the Statis Cube and holds it in his hands far more delicately than Eleven was before.

"Cup-a-Soup," Peyton says, impressed.

"What is Cup-a-Soup?" The War Doctor asks, staring at her peculiarly.

"Ha-ha!" Eleven whoops and runs to the Tardis doors, swinging them open to reveal the dark expanse of space outside.

"Clara, can you keep turning this please," Peyton says quietly, pointing to a crank on the console. "Try to keep us so he doesn't fall out into space."

She nods before following orders. Peyton turns to the other Doctor by the console. "And you... well, I'm sure you know what to do."

Peyton turns away hastily but the Doctor grabs her forearm and forces her to look back at him.

"I've recently met another brilliant young woman who inexplicably knows how to fly my Tardis," he says lowly and darkly. "That, and this unshakable feeling that I've met you before is rather unsettling. Who exactly are you-"

"Get off the poor girl!" The War Doctor chastises softly, glancing toward her Doctor who seems to be yelling through the phone to someone. "Whoever she is, _he_ trusts her and so you and I will come to."

Ten doesn't say anything. Peyton nods in thanks to the younger Doctor and quickly turns away.

• • •

"Sorry about the Dalek," the Doctor says as Peyton pulls Clara out of the painting.

"Also the showing off," she grumbles under her breath as the two of them walk back over to the group.

"Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, what in the name of sanity are you doing?" Peyton's Doctor growls, marching up to her.

"The countdown can only be halted at my personal command," the other Kate says, possibly the real one but there is no way to tell. "There's nothing you can do."

"Except, make you both agree to halt it," the Tenth Doctor swaggers forward.

"Not even for three of you," she says.

"You're about to murder millions of people," the ragged Doctor warns.

"To save billions," Kate stands to her feet. "How many times have you made that calculation?"

"Once," the eldest Doctor says. "Turned me into the man I am now. I'm not sure who that is any more."

"You tell yourself it's justified, but it's a lie," Ten says, walking around to the end of the table that separates the two Kates. "Because what I did that day was wrong. Just wrong."

"And, because I got it wrong..." his successor follows him to the end of the table. "I'm going to make you... get it right."

The two doctors grab the chairs from either side of the table, discarded by the Kates and swing them around the end before sitting down on them and flinging their legs up onto the table in unison, their arms folded.

"How?" One of the Kates sneer.

"Any second now, you're going to stop that countdown, both of you, together," the Tenth Doctor says confidently.

"And then you're going to negotiate the most perfect treaty of all time," Eleven elaborates.

"Safeguards all around, fair on both sides," Ten adds.

"And the key to perfect negotiation?" Eleven turns his head to his predecessor.

"Not knowing what side you're on!"

The two push themselves away from the table with their feet and stand quickly, the chairs continuing to fly back behind them.

"So, for the next few hours, until we decide to let you out," Peyton's Doctor says as they both take out their screwdrivers and tossing them in the air.

"No one in this room will be able to remember if they're human-"

"Or Zygon."

"Whoopsie-daisy!"

Both Doctors jump up on the table and point their sonics at a memory filter in the ceiling directly above them.

Peyton laughs as she reaches for her own sonic but at the last second leaves it in her pocket, not wanting to reveal herself to the other two Doctors.

Sparks explode out of the filter but nothing happens for a second. Peyton looks to the electronic clock on the wall, reading ten seconds to detonation. Her breath hitches in her throat. This can't not work.

"Cancel the detonation!" Both Kates scream.

"Peace in our time," Peyton smiles.

• • •

The delegations were long and arduous. Peyton at the centre of the treaty drawn up to allow the Zygons a home on Earth in secret. But as soon as the Doctor had signalled to her that there was something he wanted to do, Peyton followed without hesitation with Clara in tow.

Peyton looks around the old barn as they leave the Tardis, the tenth Doctor appearing beside them.

"I told you," Clara whispers. "He hasn't done it yet."

"Go away now, all of you," the War Doctor huffs, standing beside a strange machine with a large ruby button protruding from the top. "This is for me."

"These events should be time-locked. We shouldn't even be here," Ten says.

"So something let us through," Eleven muses.

"Go back," the rugged Doctor insists. "Go back to your lives. Go and be the Doctor that I could never be. Make it worthwhile."

"All those years burying you in my memory," the Tenth Doctor mutters.

"Pretending you didn't exist," Peyton's Doctor adds as his younger self places his hand delicately on the button. "Keeping you a secret even from myself."

"Pretending you weren't the Doctor when you were the Doctor more than anybody else."

"You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right," the eldest Doctor walks beside the machine, looking his younger self in the eye.

"But this time..." Ten says, doing the same.

"You don't have to do it alone."

Peyton watches with a pained expression as the two other Doctors place a hand upon the other's resting on the button.

"Thank you," the War Doctor says.

"What we do today..." Ten steadies himself. "Is not out of fear or hatred. It is done because there is no other way."

"And it is done in the name of the many lives we are failing to save."

The Doctor, her Doctor, looks over to her perhaps seeking reassurance but Peyton is sure that all he sees are her watery grey eyes and the trembling shake of her head.

"What?" He says flatly. "What is it, what?"

"Nothing," she chokes. She feels Clara's fingers intertwine with hers and she looks down at her to see that she is also close to tears.

"No. Something, tell me."

"You told me, a long time ago, you wiped out our- your own people. I just... I never pictured you doing it, that's all."

Around them, the light seems to be extinguished from the sky before they are transported somewhere, at least it looks like they are. A battlefield.

"What's happening?" Clara says, frightened as they watch smoke fill the sky and a young man run straight past them.

"Nothing, it's a projection," the War Doctor explains.

Peyton cups a free hand to her mouth as tears spill over her cheeks. They're looking at Gallifrey. In the painting, she didn't see much other than the Dalek charging at them but now, they aren't part of the action, simply outsiders looking on.

This might've been her home if things were different. If not for the Time War, if not for _him_. A little girl in red robes runs straight past her, her face stained with tears and mud. If she was human, she wouldn't be older than ten.

"These are the people you're going to burn?" Clara whimpers.

"There isn't anything we can do," Ten insists weakly.

"He's right. There isn't another way, there never was. Either I destroy my own people or I let the universe burn."

"Look at you..." Peyton manages, wiping the back of her hand across her face. "The Warrior, the hero. And you."

The Doctor walks toward his two companions slowly, the flames of the scene behind him framing him as he gets closer.

"And what am I?"

"Have you really forgotten?" Peyton asks, her tears blurring her vision slightly as they threaten to spill over again.

"Yes. Maybe, yes," the Doctor says, looking so lost, so scared behind those old eyes.

"We've got enough warriors, any old idiot can be a hero," Peyton looks past him and into the middle distance beyond.

"Then what do I do?"

"What you've always done," Peyton says as she feels a hot tear run down her pale face. "Be a doctor." The Doctor continues to stare blankly at her. "You told me the name you chose was a promise. What was the promise?"

"Never cruel or cowardly," Ten says.

"Never give up, never give in," the War Doctor says.

The scene around them fades and they find themselves back in the barn again.

Peyton looks down, pulling her hand away from Clara so she can quickly wipe her tears away. When she looks back up, the Doctor is no longer looking at her, instead, he looks toward his two previous selves.

"You're not suggesting that we change our own personal history?" Ten arches an eyebrow toward him.

"We change history all the time," Eleven reasons in a whisper. "I'm suggesting something far worse."

"What, exactly?"

"Gentlemen," Peyton's Doctor straightens his coat. "I have had four hundred years to think about this. I've changed my mind."

With a flick, he sonics the mechanism, causing the button to retract inside and out of sight.

"There's still a billion billion Daleks up there, attacking," the War Doctor reasons.

"Yeah, there is, there is," the Doctor says, pacing manically. Peyton knows that smile. That mad, intense smile. It means that today there's going to be a happy ending.

His optimism infects her, causing her to smile and look between the Doctors excitedly.

"But there's something those billion billion Daleks don't know," the Tenth Doctor says.

"Cause if they did, they'd probably send for reinforcements," Eleven chuckles.

"What, what don't they know?" Clara looks around.

"This time there's three of them!" Peyton laughs. They're going to save Gallifrey. They're really going to do it.

"Oh! Oh, yes, that is good!" The War Doctor exclaims. "That is brilliant!"

"Oh, oh, oh. I'm getting that too. That is brilliant!" Ten exults.

"I've been thinking about it for centuries!"

"She didn't just show me any old future, she told me exactly the future I need to see!"

"Eh? Who did?" Eleven frowns.

"Bad Wolf Girl, I could kiss you!" He gushes.

"So what are we doing? What's the plan?" Peyton interrupts, choosing to ignore the two older Doctor's haunted faces. Maybe a question for later.

"The Dalek fleets are surrounding Gallifrey, firing on it constantly," the youngest Doctor explains.

"The Sky Trench is holding, but... what if the whole planet just disappeared?" Ten walks up to Peyton, holding her by both shoulders.

"Tiny bit of an ask," Clara mentions.

"The Daleks would be firing at each other, they'd destroy themselves in their own crossfire."

"Gallifrey would be gone, the Daleks would be destroyed, and it would look to the rest of the universe as if they'd annihilated each other."

"But where would Gallifrey be?" Clara asks.

"Frozen," Peyton realises. "Frozen in an instant of time, safe and hidden away. We've already seen it."

"Exactly..."

"... Like a painting."

"Gallifrey's not falling today," Peyton cheers, turning to Clara and throwing her arms around her neck. She feels Clara's arms slowly wrap back around her and squeezes her tight.

• • •

"I don't suppose we'll ever know if we actually succeeded," the younger Doctor muses, sitting between Peyton and Clara on a bench in the Gallery. "But at worse, we failed doing the right thing as opposed to succeeding in doing the wrong."

"Life and soul, you are," Clara sighs before taking a sip of her tea.

"What is it actually called?" Ten asks, staring up at the image of Gallifrey, now back on the wall of the Under Gallery.

"Well, there's some debate," Eleven studies the painting. "Either No More... or Gallifrey Falls."

"Not very encouraging," Peyton arches an eyebrow, swirling what's left of her tea in its cup. "How did it get here?"

"No idea," Peyton's Doctor sighs, pulling Amy's glasses off his face and gently placing them in his pocket. "A lot of things seem to be turning up lately in ways I can't explain."

"There's always something we don't know, isn't there?" Ten shrugs

The Eleventh Doctor turns to look over his shoulder at Peyton with a faint smile. "Yes, I suppose there is."

"Well, gentlemen... it has been an honour... and a privilege," the War Doctor says, standing to his feet and placing his cup of tea back where he had been sitting.

"Likewise," Ten nods.

"Doctor," Elven smiles.

"And if I grow to be half the man that you are, Clara Oswald, Peyton Barrett. I shall be happy indeed."

"That's right, aim high," Clara chuckles, standing up too and kissing the Doctor on the cheek. Peyton knows the two spent some time together while she was overseeing the agreements while in the archive.

"I won't remember this, will I?"

"The time streams are out of sync," the Eleventh Doctor explains. "You can't retain it. No."

"So I won't remember that I tried to save Gallifrey rather than burn it. I'll have to live with that. But for now, for this moment... I am the Doctor again. Thank you." He looks to the row of three Tardises. "Which one is mine?"

The three Doctors look between one another before they laugh, the youngest Doctor walking toward the most distressed looking Tardis and opening its door, disappearing inside.

Everyone watches in silence as the blue box fades away, its soothing hum making Peyton smile sadly.

"I won't remember either, so you might as well tell me," Ten says seriously, taking off his glasses.

"Tell you what?" Eleven asks as Peyton and Clara sit back down on the bench.

"Where it is we're going that you don't want to talk about."

"I saw Trenzalore... where we're buried. We die in battle among millions."

Peyton feels Clara's head fall onto her shoulder. They had almost forgotten about Trenzalore, it was so long ago that they went there, when they saw Clara sacrifice herself to save the Doctor.

"That's not how it's supposed to be," Ten murmurs.

"That's how the story ends. Nothing we can do about it. Trenzalore is where you're going."

"Oh, never say nothing," Ten shrugs before reaching forward for a handshake. "Anyway, good to know my future is in safe hands. Keep a tight hold on it, ladies."

Both Peyton and Clara stand up as he places his cup of tea down on the bench as well.

"On it," Clara smiles, reaching out for a handshake but the Doctor takes it and lifts it to his lips instead, leaving the brunette rather chuffed.

He then turns to Peyton, taking a hold of her hand as well, holding it delicately in his own calloused ones. "And you, I hope to unravel your mystery another day."

"Don't you just," Peyton smirks as he kisses her hand, sending a playful glace her Doctor's way who rolls his eyes.

"Trenzalore," he says as he looks his Tardis up and down, holding the handle. "We need a new destination, because... I don't want to go."

He steps inside his box and in a moment, the wheezing noise of the machine fills there ears and he spins away to some other time.

"He always says that," the Doctor smiles sadly.

Peyton watches as he walks back toward the image of Gallifrey staring up at it with his back turned to them. "Need a moment alone with your painting?"

"How did you know?"

"Those big, sad eyes," she explains, walking toward him. She snakes her arms over his shoulders and holds him close for a moment before pulling away. "I always know."

She smiles before walking back to Clara offering a hand to her and walking the rest of the way to the final Tardis together. She opens the door and waves Clara inside before her.

For a moment, it's just Peyton and the Doctor in the room. The madman and his apprentice. She gives him one last smile before stepping inside her box, her home.

That day, they saved Gallifrey. The children, the mothers, and the fathers. Peyton wonders if that means that their families are out there somewhere, frozen in time. Blessing a painting with their smiles and their hearts.

Gallifrey Falls, No More.


	48. In the Tardis #9

With boundless laughter, the Doctor and Peyton Barrett tumble into the Tardis. The Doctor slams the doors and the two shove their backs up against the white wood, leaning into it as they continue laughing heartily.

"You..." Peyton manages through her laughing, clutching her sides. "I can't believe we got out of there alive!"

"Me?" The Doctor cackles, pushing himself off the door and shrugging off his slightly charred coat, chucking it over the railing nearby, gripping it and leaning forward, his shoulders still heaving. "You totally blew our cover!"

Peyton wipes her eyes with the back of her hand, trying to steady her breaths but the sight of the Doctor laughing causes her to bubble up all over again. "I was under pressure!"

"I'm sorry, you're majesty, but you can't sacrifice us, we're Time Lords!" The Doctor teases, impersonating his apprentice.

"What else was I going to say," Peyton chuckles, trying to catch her breath, she walks over to the seat by the console and throws herself down into it. "They were going to throw us into that volcano."

The Doctor sighs, before taking in a large breath to steady himself. "In twelve hundred years, I never thought it would be you who nearly kills me."

Peyton tries to glare up at him but her smile betrays her. "Shut up." 

"Come on you," the Doctor says, placing a hand on her head and messing up her hair even more than it already is. "Go get cleaned up, we've got reservations tonight at the the Moon Gardens of Syterling."

Peyton bats the old man away from her head and gets to her feet. "Do I have to dress up?" 

The Doctor sighs at her. "Yes! Just, at least wear something with buttons." 

"So... not a sweater?" Peyton raises an eyebrow at his low standards of her. 

"If you can manage," the Doctor replies sarcastically. 

"I'll see what I can do," Peyton smirks back before wandering down and away from the console. 

• • •

The stars twinkle in the inky sky above, constellations dancing in the night to the wonder of those below. One would never see this many stars if you were to gaze skyward on a London night, Peyton counts herself lucky if she even spots one in the foggy heavens. With her stomach full of food, a fire crackling nearby and a soft blanket thrown around her shoulders, Peyton breathes in the alien air and wishes on a star, something she hadn't done since she was a little girl. 

She fixes her eyes on the brightest one, hanging above the mountainous horizon. It reminds her of Earth's very own Dog Star, the human traveller's guide for millennia, how it hangs proudly in the skyscape, commanding dominance over all others. 

She wishes to never have to stop wandering the universe, traipsing her way across the galaxies without a care in her mind and with her best friend at her side. She couldn't imagine anything that could make her want to give any of this up, no matter what happens. 

"Back to reality, Peyton?" The Doctor's voice catches her attention and she smiles up at him, having returned from his disappeared, wine bottle and two glasses in hand. 

"I thought you hated wine," Peyton creases her eyebrows with a smile as the Doctor slides into the bench beside her and starts pouring the drinks. 

"Yeah, well, I know you like it," he shrugs, meticulously making sure not to spill a drop. "And, it turns out I know the barkeeper! Helped her out a bit in a spot of trouble centuries ago, she gave me a hell of a discount." 

Peyton chuckles under her breath and picked up her glass between her fingers. She eyes the Doctor who is holding his glass patiently, watching her with those old eyes. 

"To forever," Peyton says, lifting her glass to his. 

The Doctor smiles, albeit with a hint of sadness that the astute Peyton doesn't miss, and lifts his own glass to meet hers. "To forever." 

**sorry it's very very short, i wasn't planning on writing this but i thought a little teaser would be appropriate before the next chapter.**


	49. The Day the Doctor Changed

"Doctor!" Peyton cries, throwing her arms up in front of her face in disgust. "How many times have I told you to project your clothes onto my brain?"

The Doctor doesn't answer, but a passive-aggressive whir of his sonic lets Peyton know its safe to lower her arms. "Better?"

"Yes, obviously," Peyton rolls her eyes, storming up to the flight deck, her arms folded around her middle. She still isn't used to the holographic clothes around her body and feels a little awkward.

She had never actually been to the Church of the Papal Mainframe, she'd heard of it of course in dusty old books and in the Doctor's ramblings. The fact that they were able to take a hold of the situation before the Doctor did was cause for concern for the two of them. But the Doctor trusted them, surprising Peyton as he didn't seem the religious type.

She looks up to the monitor and the millions of life forms registering amongst the thousands of ships in orbit around the shielded planet. Everyone's here, why?

Her gaze travels down to the desktop and the cyborg head mounted on it. "I feel like it's looking at me," Peyton complains, shifting away from it and still covering her body self consciously.

"I no longer contain a visual cortex," the broken Cyberman says in its monotone voice, not quite the chilling timbre of the cyber race but a strange distorted version.

"Handles is harmless," the Doctor says, flapping a hand in the air as he types furiously with the other. "Now, what should be our priority is getting closer to the planet, find out why everyone's here."

"Maybe they're just here for the same we are," Peyton says matter of factly, walking around the console to lean back against it beside him. The Doctor looks down at her with a quizzical face, expecting her to elaborate. She leans forward, smirking up at him. "Curiosity."

"Nice thought," the Doctor says, walking away from her and around the console. "But the scan definitely shows Cyber ships, Dalek ships, Sontaran ship. I have never met a curious Sontaran."

"Worth a try," Peyton shrugs. She looks up to the ceiling and the rotating mechanism above her. "We're not going to get any closer in here, the shields are too tight."

"That's why we're not going!"

Peyton hadn't noticed that while her back was turned the Doctor had wandered off beneath the Tardis flight deck.

She walks over to the railing and leans over it with her arms folded, elbows resting on the metal. "And your plan is?"

The Doctor emerges into view with a wine red cape latched around his shoulders and holding a Dalek eyestalk in a hand held high above his head. His face is half taken up by a goofy grin. "I'm going to make some friends."

Peyton raises an eyebrow. "Is the cape really necessary?"

"Yes."

• • •

As Peyton slams the button to teleport the Doctor back onto the ship, he appears right where he disappeared at the bottom of the stairs. This was the seventh attempt at finding out who was around, the Doctor beamed over to a nearby ship to try and peacefully talk. Their neighbours had other ideas.

"Every ship I go on, they just shoot at me," the Doctor says, throwing off the cape in a huff, leaving it in a pile as he climbs the stairs. "I said, 'put me on a ship'. I didn't say 'put me on a Dalek ship'. Don't put me on a Dalek ship, when I'm holding a bit of broken Dalek!"

"It was Handles turn to choose," Peyton says. "I would have intervened if I knew!" 

The Doctor wrenches Handles off its stand and carries it in one arm as he walks around to the monitor.

"You did not indicate a preference."

"Use your head!" The Doctor exasperates. "It's not like you've got a lot of alternatives. They're all here. Daleks, Sontarans, Terileptils, Slitheen. And they're not even fighting, they're just parked. Why?"

"If you receive an untranslatable mysterious message from a lonely little planet in the sky, what would you do?" Peyton says from the other side of the console, her hands on her hips.

"I'm not a moron, I wouldn't go!" The Doctor insists.

"Then what are we doing right now?" Peyton shouts with a sarcastic laugh.

"Well, you know, I'm O.C.D, what's their excuse? what does this message mean?" The Doctor shakes his head, walking back around the console and flicks a switch, prompting the rhythmic message to project out of the speakers. "The Tardis should be translating, why isn't she translating?"

"You of all people know that not everything _can_ be translated, Doctor," Peyton sighs. "Decoded? Maybe. But we have to get down to the papal mainframe first, they've been here the longest, maybe they know something."

Before the Doctor can answer, the ring of the Tardis phone interrupts them.

"Oh, no. And remind me I've got to patch the telephone back through the console unit. This is getting ridiculous, Peyton, can you get that?" The Doctor slams handles back down on its stand and continues typing furiously, perhaps another attempt at translating.

"You know," Peyton begins as she walks toward the doors. "You had four years to redesign your Tardis, why did you think that was a good idea?"

"Shut up, I was busy..."

"Sulking?" Peyton supplies, opening the door and looking back to him with an innocent smile.

"Hey, like you can talk!" The Doctor huffs.

Peyton shakes her head and reaches over to the phone compartment, looking down at the planet and ships below. She can hear the Doctor arguing with Handles behind her.

"Hello? You've reached the Tardis, this is Peyton speaking." She quickly leans back inside the time machine as to not attract attention, also, not to be thrown out. Thankfully, the phone cord is long.

"Emergency," Clara's familiar voice crackles through the speaker. "You're my girlfriend."

"Right," Peyton says, stunned for a second. "Well, I have to say I'm surprised. It's been half a century or so, so I may not be quite up to speed."

"Who is it?" The Doctor calls.

Peyton mouths Clara's name at him.

"No, no, you're not actually my girlfriend."

"Oh, that's a relief," Peyton sighs before freezing up. "I mean, not that you're not great. But human, possibly immortal being from a basically extinct species. Think of the children!"

"What, like you?"

"Shut up."

"But I need a partner really quickly!"

"Well, I hope you're nicer to the next one," Peyton leans back against the console.

"No, shut up!" Clara's voice resonates through the Tardis speakers instead of the phone, Peyton shoots a sour look over to the Doctor who must have put her on speakerphone. "Christmas dinner, me, cooking."

"So?" Peyton asks with a frown, pulling the phone from her ear to hold by her mouth instead.

"So, I may have... accidentally invented a significant other."

"Yeah, I did that once," the Doctor says, leaning into Peyton and speaking into the microphone. "There's no easy way to get rid of an android."

"Did you put me on speakerphone?" Clara groans.

"Sorry, not me. _Him._ Anyway, continue," Peyton moves around the console, batting the Doctor away from her with her free hand.

"And no, not an android, a pretend one, an imaginary one. And I said they'd be coming to Christmas dinner," Clara stresses, something metal clangs against tile in the background

"New craft detected," Handles says.

"Okay, we'll take the Tardis this time," the Doctor says loudly, getting the Tardis ready for flight.

"I just need you to come for Christmas dinner," Clara sighs into the phone, Peyton grips to console as they fly through the ships. "One of you. Both. Just do that for me. Just come to Christmas dinner and be my Christmas date."

"I'll be there as quick as I can, I think something's come up," Peyton says as they land. "Merry Christmas?" She hangs up.

• • •

"I need you. I'm cooking Christmas dinner!" Clara yells into the phone after Peyton retrieves it again, nearly getting her hand shot off in the process.

"We're being shot at by Cybermen!"

"Well, can't we do both?"

The Tardis lurches, Peyton trips backwards, almost tumbling to the ground. "Yeah, why not!"

• • •

"Peyton, Doctor, I'm so glad you're he-" Clara freezes in the Tardis doorway, her eyes widened to half the size of her face and staring at the Doctor in fright.

"Clara!" He cheers, throwing his arms up in the air. He walks toward her.

"No, stop, stop, don't move, don't do anything!" Clara squeaks turning around and covering her eyes.

"Why, what is it? What's wrong?" Peyton asks, stepping toward her with a frown

"What's wrong? What's wrong!? He's naked, and probably worse, you're not even bothered. What the hell are you two doing?"

"Doctor!" Peyton scowls in the Doctor's direction. As soon as she saw Clara approaching on the monitor, she set her clothes to be projected onto her brain, the Doctor must have not.

"Yes, I am naked. I wondered if you'd notice," he says in a nonchalant tone.

"Doctor, why are you naked?" Clara asks, her back still turned but her voice a little calmer now.

"Because we're going to church," the Doctor says as if this was the most obvious explanation. He grabs his sonic screwdriver and points it at her. "Better?"

"Oh," Clara frowns, turning around. "That was quick."

"Hologram clothes, projected directly onto your visual cortex," he explains.

"So you're still naked underneath?"

"Everybody's naked underneath, if you think about it," Peyton says thoughtfully.

Clara shivers. "Don't say things like that. It's Christmas, I regret nominating you as my girlfriend," She retorts deadpan. "Are you naked too?"

"Yes she is," the Doctor says childishly. "You humans are so... modest."

"Shut up. Come on, you two," Clara laughs. "Come meet my family."

• • •

Well, that went just about as well as any interaction with the Doctor can go. Amongst generally being himself, the Time Lord had neglected to project his clothes onto Clara's family's visual cortexes.

"Oh that is never going to work, is it?" The Doctor tuts at the oven as Clara slams the door of her kitchen.

"What's wrong? Do you not think it's done yet?" She bites her thumb walking over to him.

"I reckon a decent vet would give it an even chance," Peyton jokes.

"Okay, well, use an app," Clara says.

"An app?" Peyton frowns.

"On your screwdriver, or your pen. App it."

"Most certainly not," the Doctor scoffs. "It doesn't do turkey. Nothing _does_ turkey, you'd need a time machine."

Clara looks up at the Doctor expectantly.

"What?"

• • •

"Information available," Handles says as the Doctor slams the hatch on the turkey beneath the console.

"What's that?" Clara asks, pulling off her oven mitts and placing them on the base of the console.

"Oh, just a bit of Cyberman," Peyton says nonchalantly, heading up the stairs to investigate what Handles seems to have found.

"He'll get us to the church on time," The Doctor says, following close behind her.

"I have developed a fault," the Cyberman says as Peyton trots across the flight deck to the monitor.

"The organic stuff all gone, but there's still a full set of data banks. Found it at the Maldovar market," the Doctor says as he sets the Tardis into flight.

"Planet identified from analysis of message," Handles says.

"Right, cool," the Doctor laughs, leaning up against the console beside the robot. "Go on then. Okay, tell us, what is the planet? Go on."

"Processing official designation."

Peyton walks over and leans against the outer control panel opposite the Doctor, Clara, and Handles, waiting expectantly.

"Processing."

"Okay, in your own time, few. Don't rush," the Doctor sighs sarcastically, pushing off the console to pace.

"So, why haven't you just gone down there and had a look?" Clara asks, studying the broken Cyberman, probably a lot more beat up than the Cybermen she met once on an abandoned theme park planet.

"It's shielded," Peyton explains, folding her arms as the Doctor fiddles with some switches beside her. "Even the Tardis can't break through it."

"Gallifrey."

The Doctor turns white as a sheet as he meets Peyton's eye. Her hearts almost stop in her chest. It's not possible. It can't be.

The Doctor slowly turns. "What did you say?"

"Gallifrey."

"What are you talking about? Gallifrey? What do you mean?" The Doctor speaks barely above a whisper as he stalks over to Handles, leaning down to it.

"Confirmed. Planet designation: Gallifrey."

The Doctor rips handles from his stand and marches around to the monitor with it in his arms. "See that? Gallifrey is my home, I know it when I see it. _That_ is not Gallifrey!"

He throws Handles in the general direction of its stand but Clara catches sit and and puts it upon it right.

"Doctor, are you okay?" She calls out as he marches toward the doors.

"It's not Gallifrey. Gallifrey's gone."

Peyton pushes herself off the controls slowly and follows the two at a distance, watching as they open the Tardis doors ahead.

He's right, it can't be Gallifrey.

"Unless, unless you saved it," Clara says as Peyton lifts her yes to gaze over her shoulder and down at the bluey grey planet below. "You thought you might have."

"Even if it survived, it's gone from this universe," the Doctor says. "That is not my home!"

He slams the door and walks back to the console, leaning his weight against it through his hands. "It can't be."

A loud horn blasts through the air, as if it's coming from outside.

"What's that?" Clara asks, looking to the door again.

Peyton steps beside her and opens the door. She is greeted by a powerful light, causing her to squint her eyes.

"That's the Papal Mainframe," she says. "It's like a great big flying church."

"They were the first ship to arrive," the Doctor says, reappearing behind the two women. "They are the ones who shielded the planet. They can get us down there!"

On the side of the ship, an enormous hologram of a face appears, a woman with dramatic eye make up and jewellery smiles out at them.

The Doctor throws a hand in the air and bows deeply, Peyton awkwardly curtseys.

"A friend of yours?" Clara asks.

"Tasha Lem, the Mother Superious!"

The hologram raises a hand and makes a beckoning motion with her fingers.

"I think she's inviting us aboard," Peyton looks up to the Doctor who's mood has lifted dramatically.

"Why?" Clara tilts her head.

"Because we asked her," the Doctor says. He reaches into his coat and pulls something out, holding it toward Clara. "Swallow this."

"What is it?" She says placing it in her mouth and swallowing, way too trustingly.

"Your hologram projector," Peyton sighs. "Apparently, we can't go to church with our clothes on."

The Doctor blows a kiss to the Tasha hologram as Clara touches a hand to her throat clearly regretting her decision.

• • •

"I don't feel like I'm wearing anything," Clara hisses as the three time travellers walk down the narrow catwalk in the centre of the church. Clergy men and women line the red carpet wearing camouflage uniforms, and the Mother Superious herself is waiting for them up ahead, dressed in a sleek black gown.

"I know, relaxing isn't it?" The Doctor chuckles.

"What is this place?" Clara asks.

"The Church of the Papal Mainframe," the Doctor says. "Security hub of the known universe."

"A security church?"

"Yep," Peyton says, popping the 'p'. "Keeping you safe in this world, and the next."

The Doctor steps forward as they reach Tasha Lem and reaches a hand high in the air before bowing deeply. "I venerate the exaltation of the Mother Superious."

Peyton curtseys beside him with her head bowed low, she nudges Clara to do the same.

"Welcome to the Church of the Papal Mainframe," a large and burly man beside his leader says. "Your nudity is appreciated."

"Hey, babes," Tasha Lem says as Clara tries to cover herself as much as possible, not sure where to position herself.

"Loving the frock," the Doctor smiles , looking her up and down.

"Is that a new body? Give us a twirl!"

"Tush, this old thing?" The Doctor bats his hands before turning slowly on the spot. "I've been rocking it for centuries."

"Nice though. Tight."

Peyton and Clara share an incredibly uncomfortable glance.

"Hi, we are... also here," Peyton says just as the Doctor opens his mouth to respond with some embarrassingly flirty remark.

"Peyton, Clara, this is Tasha Lem, the head of the Church of the Papal Mainframe," the Doctor introduces. "Tash, these are my..."

"Handlers," Peyton finishes for him with a cynical smile. She curtseys again. "Peyton Barrett."

"I'm Clara... Oswald. Clara Oswald," she stammers nervously.

"We'll go to my chapel," Tasha says to her guard before projecting to the small crowd. "All honours in place, no sacrifices required."

• • •

As the ornate wooden doors slam in their faces, Peyton almost lets out a sigh of relief. If it wasn't for her unyielding curiosity about the planet below, she would be more than content to sit out here without the incessant flirting.

Clara turns beside her to walk around but Peyton stays where she is, pulling out her phone to see several missed calls from her parents and text messages asking what time her train will be arriving for Christmas dinner.

Shit. She may have forgotten about that.

Well, there are certain perks to having a best friend with a time machine.

Clara gasps loudly behind her.

Peyton spins around quickly, stowing her phone away.

That's when she sees it.

The tall skeleton frame, dressed in a distressed black suit, it's ivory hands stretching downwards. A sight she hadn't seen in almost a century.

"Clara, stay behind me," Peyton says, pulling her back.

"What is that thing?"

"It's... uh." The name is on the tip of her tongue, escaping her like a fading dream. She remembers her time in America, marking her body every time she saw one. Creatures that edit themselves from your memory, even information about them deteriorates over time. "Dangerous."

The chilling rattle of the creature's breathing causes the hair on the back of Peyton's neck to stand on end as it moves through the shadows between the columns.

Peyton fumbles to retrieve her phone as she sees the creature move toward one of the columns, soon to be out of sight of the pair. She needs to take a photo before it....

"What are you doing?" Clara asks.

Peyton turns around to look at her, noticing how close the two of them are. "Nothing, I... don't know."

She frowns as she feels the rapid thumping of her hearts in her chest.

She sees Clara's gaze fix past her shoulder again, her face moulding into one of fear.

Peyton looking over her shoulder to see the creature. The creature she had just forgotten and still can't recall the name of.

"I saw it and then forgot it," Clara gasps. "How does that work, Peyton, what is it."

"They remove themselves from the memory of anyone who sees them the moment they look away," Peyton says, standing protectively in front of Clara. "They... they're called..."

"You don't remember what they're called?!" Clara squeaks.

"That's broadly the point if you were listening to me at all!" Peyton snaps. In her mind, she remembers the message of the creatures, their threat, or perhaps their warning. Silence will fall. "It's a Silent!"

"What is with you today?" Clara asks.

"Sorry," Peyton says, stepping away from her. "It's just a creepy sort of room. I thought maybe you might like, protection."

Clara smiles, her cheeks turning a little pink. "Protection from what?," she teases. "I think by now, you'd know I'm not scared of the dark. And since when have you been my knight in shining armour?"

A playful punch to the arm momentarily causes Peyton's brain to race a thousand miles per hour. Adrenaline, coursing through her body. But for what?

"I'm perfectly chivalrous, thank you," Peyton says nervously. Her hearts racing, sweat beginning to form on her brow. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"Like we've been running, or given a fright?"

Clara frowns for a moment. "No, I don't feel any different from usual."

The damn Silent makes it's reappearance in her line of sight, this time, accompanied by two others. She wraps an iron grip around Clara's wrist and drags her back toward the door, finally taking a photo of them with her phone.

"Confess...." the Silent hisses ominously.

"What do you want!" Clara yells at them over Peyton's shoulder.

"Confess. Confess."

"Do you know who I am?" Peyton says, mustering up as much confidence as she can. "Because if you do, I wouldn't be so eager to be so ominous right now."

"What are they saying? Why are they saying 'confess'?" Clara asks, frightened.

"Clara, I don't know everything! Run!" Peyton turns on her heel and pushes open the wooden doors, pulling Clara inside with her.

The Doctor and Tasha spring apart from where they are both leaning over a bed-like alter in the centre of the room to look at them.

"Are you okay. What happened?" The Doctor asks, concerned.

"No, nothing," Clara says quickly, straightening up, clearly still panting a little.

Peyton looks at her strangely, seemingly the only one noticing her pale face and ragged breaths.

"Right," Tasha says, walking away from the strange altar and towards the back of the room, the Doctor following her. "This is my personal teleport. I can put you down just outside the town. Find the source of the message and report back to me in one hour. And on your life, Doctor, you will cause no trouble down there."

"When do I?" The Doctor asks, pulling back a red curtain and stepping inside the machine and pulls it shut behind him. He quickly pulls it back as he sticks his head out. "Don't answer that."

As Peyton and Clara slowly make their way forward, Tasha rips open the Doctor's curtain again, extending her palm out toward him.

"What?" He frowns.

"I'm not an idiot," she sighs. "Everyone in this church is trained to see straight through holograms."

"Ah, great," Clara says through gritted teeth.

"Give now," Tasha demands. "You're taking no technology of any kind down there."

"What can I do with a key?" The Doctor fusses. "You two, in, now!"

Clara and Peyton make their way to they other side of the teleport where Peyton draws back the curtain, waving Clara inside first before hopping in herself. It's a bit tight, but Peyton tries her best not to crowd the shorter woman.

"You could summon your Tardis." Peyton can hear the two still bickering

"The Tardis doesn't work by remote. Fine, if it makes you feel any better, there we are."

The whirring sound around them suggests that Tasha is starting up the teleport. Peyton can't see much besides Clara's face who seems to be determined not to look up at her.

"Remember. I want you back in one hour," Tasha says, the last thing Peyton hears before a golden light fills the machine.

"Ah!" Peyton exclaims as they land on the planet, the sudden cold not at all pleasant.

"Cold, very cold," Clara whimpers wrapping her arms around herself.

"Okay, don't worry," the Doctor says, bringing both companions under his arms and rubbing their shoulders very quickly to create some heat. "There's a heat loss filter in your hologram shells, it'll kick in, just give it a moment. So, sweet little town covered in snow, half the universe in terror. Why?"

"Whatever this signal is, I'm going to guess it's not from this world," Peyton says, stepping away from the Doctor as her body begins to feel warmer, as if she actually had her brown jacket around her shoulders.

"Oh, my God!" Clara exclaims.

"What?" The Doctor frowns, inspecting the nearby flora."

"There's something under the snow, it's..."

"What is it?" Peyton asks.

"...Cold."

"Okay, Clara," the Doctor says, walking over to her. "Just stand back now."

"It's stone! It's just stone. It's only a statue."

Peyton flinches at those words before turning slowly to look at her. Peyton's eyes fall on the dark hand reaching up out of the snow.

"Clara, get away from it!" Peyton shouts.

"Ah!" Clara shrieks as the Angel wraps its hand around her ankle.

"Clara keep looking at it," the Doctor says, grabbing her shoulders to keep her still. "Don't look away! Don't even... blink."

"What is it?" Clara asks in a high pitched voices, moving her ankle slowly.

"There is a Weeping Angel under the snow," Peyton says, unblinking, as she joins them, grabbing Clara's hand. "Looks like a statue. Isn't a statue."

"Can you get your foot out?" The Doctor asks.

"Only if I can get it out of my shoe," Clara pants.

"You're not wearing a show!"

"Good point."

"Okay, just pull, hard!" Peyton says.

"I'm trying," Clara groans,

The Doctor pulls Clara with all his might. "One, two, three!"

The two tumble backwards, Peyton letting go of Clara's hand at the last second so that she does not get dragged down either. But as she watches them fall, the tingling sensation on the back of her neck causes her to stiffen and turn around to find and see more stone hands sticking out of the snow. Then a head, then a shoulder. "They're climbing out the snow!"

"Keep looking at them. At all of them," the Doctor says, helping Clara to her feet and looking around wildly, the three of their backs pressed together.

"Why?"

"Quantum-Locked life-form," the Doctor says.

"And what does that mean."

"It can only move if it's not being looked at," Peyton explains. Her eyes falling on a now fully revealed Angel. She stares at it, avoiding its eyes. The falling snow obscures her vision, making her eyes water. A lump forms in her throat as she is wrenched back to that cloudy graveyard.

"What are they doing here?" Clara says, grabbing Peyton's hand. Peyton grabs the Doctor's as well, even just to keep herself steady.

"Same as everybody else," the Doctor guesses. "Must've got past Tasha's shield."

As they spin around, the Angels keep coming.

"There's too many of them!" Peyton panics.

"Keep looking!"

"I can't. I can't see. The snow's in my eyes," Clara splutters.

"I just need to bring the Tardis down,"the Doctor mutters.

"Well too bad we can't fly it remotely," Peyton says sarcastically.

"No, but it can home in on the key," the Doctor says.

"She took your key!" Clara cries as the Angels get closer and closer.

"She took one of them." The Doctor rips his hand away from Peyton's and the three turn around to face each other.

The Doctor grabs a fistful of his own hair and wrenches it off, grabbing a small key from his head.

Bald. He's completely and utterly bald.

As the Tardis materialises around them the Doctor laughs. "The old key in the quiff routine. Classic!" He throws the wig atop Handles and continues around the console as if nothing had just happened. "Okay, homing in on the mysterious message. Ooh, yes, I like that, the mysterious message."

"You've shaved your head," Peyton says, dumbfounded.

"Yep. Clever plan to get us past the shield."

"You got bored one night, didn't you?" Clara raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, tiny bit bored," the Doctor shrugs.

"What? When did this happen? And how did _I_ not know about it?" Peyton interrogates him.

"Oh, you were out," the Doctor flaps his hands. "You said something about a tea party, 1773."

"You left him unsupervised," Clara glares at Peyton before turning to the Doctor, leaning onto the console. "Is that what happened to your eyebrows?"

"No, they're just delicate," the Doctor says quietly. He touches his brow bone self consciously for a second before continuing. "Right, setting us down, near the signal source. I'm going to turn the engines on silent, don't want to make a fuss."

Peyton grabs the wig off of Handles and throws it at the Doctor. "Put it back on."

"Why?"

"Your ears are like rocket fins," Clara says, earning a smile from Peyton.

"I know!" he chuckles.

• • •

Peyton steps out into a town beautifully decorated for Christmas. It's odd, considering that it's an Earth holiday. Perhaps the people who live here are human too.

"Ah!" Clara sighs, emerging in the clothes she was wearing earlier when they had picked her up from London. "It's good to be wearing clothes again. That's so much better, don't you think?" Peyton can't help but agree.

"Now, what do we make of this place?" The Doctor asks, using his screwdriver to scan around.

"Well, it's two o'clock in the afternoon," Peyton says after glancing down at her watch. "Incredibly short days here."

"Yes, and the message is coming from... that tower." The Doctor points his sonic up at the clock tower in the village square.

The message resonates in their ears for a few beats before the Doctor lower's his screwdriver.

"Ah, people," the Doctor hums as he notices a man and a woman walking with a small lamp through the snow. "Hello! Hello, there!"

"Cover story?" Peyton mutters as they get closer.

"Right. Clara and I are a couple from the next town over. My name is probably Hank or Rock. Something like that. Peyton... you can be..."

"Our doula!" Clara suggests.

"I'm not being your-" Peyton cuts herself off as the couple come into earshot.

"Oh hello, Good to meet you, nice snow," the Doctor beams at the two strangers.

"Most pleasant to meet you too," the man says, reaching over to shake the Doctor's hand.

"Most pleasant, most pleasant," the woman smiles.

"I'm the Doctor," he introduced himself. "I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. I stole a time machine and ran away and I've been _flouting_ the principal law of my own people ever since."

The Doctor slams a hand against his mouth, in shock that he had said all of that, definitely against the plan.

"That wasn't quite what I was meant to say!" He says through his fingers.

"Hi, I'm Peyton," she intervenes but just as she opens her mouth, a strange warm feeling envelopes her and the words tumble past her lips before she can register them. "My father was possibly the most wanted creature in any galaxy and now I project those daddy issues onto his best friend turned mortal enemy."

"I'm an English teacher from planet Earth," Clara says. "And I've run off with a pair of aliens from space because I really fancy the blonde-"

Clara too slams her hand against her mouth her eyes blown wide and staring up at Peyton, the red flecks of embarrassment in her cheeks.

"I think, perhaps, you should stop talking till you get used to it," the woman chuckles.

"Used to what?" The Doctor asks.

"What did you say your name was?" The woman asks, looking in Clara's direction.

"Bubbly personality masking bossy control freak!"

"I'm wearing a wig"

"Oh, yes, I see," Peyton realises. "Yes, of course. It's a truth field. I desperately need therapy but refuse it after losing all three of my childhood friends."

"Oh, that is so quaint," the Doctor smiles. "I haven't seen a truth field in years. I'm wearing a wig."

"No one can lie in this town," the man explains. "Especially this close to the tower."

• • •

The sound of the signal had gotten louder and louder as they delved deeper into the building. The source is close. As they wander through the clock tower building Peyton pays no attention to the warm light emanating out of a side room as she continues through..

That is until she hears the scrape of metal against stone behind her.

She turns to see the Doctor placing Handles down on a bench and his eyes fixed into the room.

"There you are," he whispers, the corners of his mouth turning upwards not quite high enough for a smile but rather a pained grimace. "What took you so long?"

"What's wrong? Clara says beside him, looking toward whatever had captured the Doctor's attention but clearly not as pained by the sight as he is. "It's only a crack in the wall."

A cold shiver dances down Peyton's spine. A crack in the wall. She forces her feet to carry her forward until she too can see the crack, as familiar as an old friend.

It's jagged edges flood Peyton's mind with conflicting memories. Some, playing dolls and make believe in a little house in Leadworth, and some, losing the people she loved the most.

"I knew," the Doctor says, his cold hand wrapping around Peyton's and giving it a squeeze. "I always knew it wasn't over."

"What's not over?" Peyton asks as the Doctor shrugs his coat off, walking toward the crack. "The Silence? Madame Kovarian? They haven't bothered us in years."

"What is it?" Clara asks, following the Doctor to the crack.

He doesn't reply as he runs his fingers along the gash in the wall. The signal definitely flowing out of it.

"When I was a little girl," Peyton says slowly. "My best friend had an imaginary friend. One night he came and fixed a crack in her wall. That crack. It's a split in the skin of reality."

"A tiny sliver of the twenty-sixth of June, 2010. The Day the universe blew up," the Doctor continues.

"Missed that," Clara mumbles.

"I rebooted it, put it all back together again."

"That's good," Clara nods as the Doctor begins to pace.

"It was my Tardis that blew it up in the first place. I felt a degree of responsibility."

"But the scar tissue remains," Peyton sighs. "It's a structural weakness in the whole universe."

"Whoa!" The Doctor says leaping backward after touching the crack again. "And someone's trying to get through it, from outside our universe. From somewhere else. Of course, of course. It makes sense."

"What makes sense, Doctor?" Peyton rolls her eyes. "Nothing can exist outside the universe, at least not for any extended period of time, not long enough to send out what ever this signal is."

"If you tried to break through a wall, you'd choose the weakest spot ". If you were trying to break into this universe, you'd choose this crack, because... no! If you were trying to break back into this universe-"

"You said Gallifrey!" Peyton cuts the Doctor off, marching toward Handles, picking the Cyberman up by the remains of its metal spine. "Why did you say Gallifrey?"

"Analysis of message composition indicated Gallifreyan origin, according to Tardis data banks."

"You said Gallifrey was gone," Clara says.

"No, I said it was in another universe," the Doctor stares at the crack as Peyton slowly puts Handles down. "The message is coming through here. The truth field is too, at a guess. If it's the Time Lords... if it's the Time lords."

The Doctor doesn't say anything more for a few seconds, simply gazing down into the crack. He pulls something out of his pocket and turns to his companions. "Seal of the high council of Gallifrey," he says tossing it in the air before marching over to Handles. "Nicked it off your old man in the Death Zone." He slams it against the robot's head. "There is an algorithm imprinted in the atomic structure. Use it to decode the message."

"Message decoding," Handles says as the Doctor holds it in his hands. "Message analysis proceeding. Information available. The message is a request for information."

"It's a question!" The Doctor says angrily, tossing the Cyber head down. "Why can't you just say it's a question?"

"It is being projected through all of time and space on a repeating cycle."

"The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight," the Doctor murmurs with a coy smile.

"Doctor, I've been hearing those words for years," Peyton closes her eyes tight and shakes her head. "What is this question?"

"Warning, translation will be available to all life-forms in range," Handles whirs. "Translation follows. Doctor who?"

Nothing could prepare Peyton for those two words, those two very simple words. The pieces of the puzzle, laid out across the last century of her travels with the Doctor suddenly fall in to place. All the way back to Prisoner Zero.

"A question only you could answer," Peyton says, eyes fixed on the crack, he voice shaking slightly. "A truth field to make sure your not lying."

"If I give my name, they'll know they've found the right place," the Doctor says, leaning against the wall on his shoulder. "And that it's safe to come through."

"The Time Lords?" Clara raises an eyebrow. "Okay, so, what then. If you answer the question and they come back, what happens?"

"Ah, you two need to take this to the Tardis, and put it in the charger slot for the sonic," the Doctor says, fishing something out of his trouser pocket and pressing it into Clara's hand as she is closer.

"Why?" Clara asks

"Hell," the Doctor answers softly. "All Hell, that's what happens if the Time Lords come back. There's a half a universe up there already, waiting to open fire. Now, please, go to the Tardis, and just do as I say!"

Clara runs off without a second thought but Peyton stays rooted to the spot, staring down the Time Lord. "You said you would never send me away again."

"It's a three hand job, minimum," the Doctor insists. "And Clara can't fly the Tardis can she?"

"You have never let me fly her alone. Why. Are. You. Sending. Me. Away?" Peyton folds her arms.

The Doctor sighs. "Just get her home and you can come right back. Just make sure she goes back inside, to her Dad and Christmas dinner, have some Yorkshire puddings for me."

Peyton bites her lip before turning to run after Clara.

• • •

Peyton steps out of the Tardis behind Clara with her head hung low.

"No, no, no!" She yells turning back to barge past Peyton and back into the Tardis, but Peyton is much taller than her and holds her back without too much struggle.

That is until the whirring of the Tardis engines catch her ears.

"Doctor, no!" Peyton turns and sees the door slam closed behind her and the time machine begin to fade from sight. "You promised! You swore!"

She grabs a hold of the box tightly, shutting her eyes as she clings to the ship.

She feels a pair of arms clinging to her waist.

• • •

"What are you two doing here?" The Doctor yells.

Peyton turns her head stiffly toward him, all her limbs feel like ices and her lungs struggle to inflate fully.

"We were in space," Clara whimpers, her voice barely audible. Her hot breath on the back of Peyton's neck is a welcome change in temperature.

"Well, you were in the time vortex!" The Doctor's face looks strange, more lines cover his face than ever and a hint of grey highlights his hair, clearly no longer a wig. "She must have extended the force field. No wonder!" He pulls the two of them off his time machine. "No wonder she's late, dragging you two around."

"You tricked us, you lied to me," Peyton says, watching the Doctor use a walking cane to steady himself.

"I saved you both!"

"You didn't even say goodbye!" Clara yells.

"I'm furious with you, both of you!" The Doctor shouts back.

"Well we are not even talking to you!" Peyton sneers, grabbing Clara's hand and tugging her back.

After barely a second of glaring at the Doctor, his lips break into a smile and he starts to laugh. Peyton tries to fight it, but her own giggle forces it's way through her teeth as well.

• • •

Peyton pulls the thick woollen blanket tighter around herself as she stares into the crack yet again, grappling with its heavy reckoning and her people just beyond it.

Behind her, Clara looks at all the drawings that plaster the walls of the Doctor's new home, made by the children of the town of Christmas.

He had seemingly made a quaint little life for himself here, she hadn't yet gotten to ask how long he had been here, but to see the years of wear on the Doctor's face, she could only guess it was quite a number.

"Turkey isn't done yet," the Doctor announces, the clack of his cane against the stairs alerting the two to his presence.

"Is it still asking the question?" Peyton asks, not looking away from the crack. It was silent, but there are any number of explanations for it's silence.

"Oh, it never stops," the Doctor groans. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees him toss Handles to Clara before walking toward her.

Shaking hands come to rest on Peyton's shoulders and turn her away from the crack. "Come upstairs," he whispers. "It's almost time."

"What for?" Clara asks, cautiously inspecting the Cyberman in her hands, he seems a lot more worn than the last time they saw one another.

"Dawn," the Doctor smiles, taking his hands away from Peyton to use his cane instead. "The light here lasts only a few minutes, you don't want to miss it.

"So, what's been going on since we last saw each other?" Clara asks as she leads the way up the stone steps.

"Oh, you know, this and that," the Doctor grunts with the effort of climbing the stairs, even with his cane. Peyton braces herself behind him in case he topples backwards. "The three hundred years practically flew by."

"Is everyone still up there?" Peyton asks.

"Well, it's a stand-off," the Doctor explains as Clara opens the door to the rooftop. They all sit down on the benches surrounding a fire pit, which Peyton points her sonic at, causing it to light. "They can't attack in case I unleash the Time Lords. And I can't run away, because they'll burn this planet to stop the Time Lords. Hey, after all these years, I've finally found somewhere that needs me to stick around. A town called Christmas! Could've been worse.

He runs a rag against Handles where Clara had placed it on the bench beside the Doctor and adjusts him. "Right, there you go buddy. Comfy?"

"Comfort is irrelevant."

"How's that, is that better?" The Doctor asks as he fixes a blanket behind its head.

"Affirmative."

"You just take it easy, buddy." The Doctor pats the Cyber head and earns an eyebrow raise from each of his companions. "He's getting old. I do my best for him but, I just can't get the parts, you know. Hey, I know the feeling."

He sounds genuinely upset, as if the hunk of metal had become a dear friend to him over the years.

"Where'd you get these?" Clara asks, picking up a bag of marshmallows from beside the bench she and Peyton share.

"I have a supplier," the Doctor says with a cheeky smile as Clara opens the bag and offers it to him. "The pink ones are the best."

He pulls one out and pops it in his mouth as Clara finds the marshmallow skewers beside her and offers one along with a handful of marshmallows to Peyton.

"I have developed a fault," Handles announces, its voice breaking up slightly.

"Hey, don't you worry Handles," the Doctor shakes his head after swallowing a marshmallow. "You're just dreaming. The sun's coming up very soon, you just hang in there."

"I have developed a... fault. I... I have developed... a fault."

The Doctor picks Handles up carefully. "Hey, Handles. Come on. Come on. One more dawn, you can do it. You've got it in you. Come on, just hang in there."

"Attention!" It says. "Emergency! Attention..."

"Handles, what is it? What's wrong?" The Doctor shakes the robot gently as its voice crackles away

"Urgent action required! You must patch the telephone device back through the console unit."

The lights in Handles skull fade and not another peep comes from the robot.

The Doctor looks up to Peyton and Clara, his eyes filled with sadness, likening him to a lost little boy dispute the age on his face. "Come back," he whispers, still shaking the Cyber head. "Handles?"

He sighs, resting his forehead against Handles' and Peyton realises that he had probably seen the people of this town live and die, his only constant companion being Handles. And now he's lost him.

"Thank you, Handles. And we'll done. Well done, mate."

The town fills with light as he places Handles back down beside him.

Peyton looks over her shoulder to see the sun peering over the distant mountains.

"What do you think of my new place?" The Doctor asks as he gets to his feet and walks over to the stone railing of the balcony, looking out across the snow capped town, now filled with light.

Peyton and Clara follow him, still wrapped in their blankets and admire the view below.

"I come up here once a day for a few minutes, remind myself of what it is I'm protecting," he says.

"It's beautiful," Clara smiles.

"Why did you send us away?" Peyton asks, unable to keep it inside of herself any longer.

"Because if I hadn't, I'd have buried you both a long time ago," the Doctor explains exasperated you.

"No, you wouldn't," Clara shakes her head, looking up at him. "I would never have let you get stuck here."

"Ha! Everyone gets stuck somewhere eventually, Clara. Everything ends."

"Not us," Peyton says defiantly. "Regular exposure to the time vortex and I don't age. You promised we'd be together, forever."

"Well, have you been paying attention? Even I'm an old man now," the Doctor says wearily.

"But you don't die. You change. You pop right back up with a new face," Clara insists.

"No, not forever. I can change twelve times. Thirteen versions of me. Thirteen silly Doctors."

"Okay, so you're number eleven, so..."

"Ha, are we forgetting Captain grumpy. I didn't call myself the Doctor during the Time War, but it was still a regeneration?" The Doctor chuckles dryly.

"Well, twelve then. You've still got one more go," Peyton looks up at him with concern. "And I'll wrap the new you up in bubble wrap so you won't ever get into trouble."

"Well, number ten once regenerated and kept the same face. I had vanity issues at the time. Twelve regenerations, Peyton. I can't ever do it again. This is where I end up. This face, this version of me."

"Why did you never tell me this?" Peyton asks, tearing her eyes away from the old man and looking over the village, deeply hurt by this omission.

"I never wanted you to worry about me," the Doctor shrugs. "I never wanted to... take away your optimism and hope. So much loss in your life, Peyton, I didn't you worrying about the next one to come."

Silence sits between the three of them for some time before the Doctor speaks again.

"We saw this planet in the future, remember?" He says. "All those graves... one of them mine."

Trenzalore. This is Trenzalore.

"Change the future," Peyton demands, blinking her watery eyes.

"I can't."

"You've got your Tardis back," Clara reasons.

"Ha! You think I'm just going to fly away, abandon everyone?"

"Of course not," Clara glares up at him. "But you've been protecting this town for over three hundred years. Do you not think it's anybody else's go yet?"

"There is no one else to protect it!" The Doctor insists, shutting his eyes tight.

"What about me?" Peyton frowns. "A quick hop in the Tardis every couple of years to keep me going. Why can't you let me help you? We've seen the future, it'll end the same way, whatever we do. Just let me help you."

Peyton cover's the Doctors cold hand with hers.

"Every life I save is a victory," the Doctor says, looking down at their hands. "Every single one. And I'm not going to trap you here for me."

"And what about your life?" She asks, the tears in her eyes welling up once more, but she tries to come off more angry than sad. "Just for once, after all this time, have you not earned the right to think about that?"

The Doctor tears up at that, unable to hold her gaze any longer.

"Sorry," Peyton mumbles, tearing her hand away and wiping her eyes with her wrist. "We shouldn't be arguing."

"Peyton, I've been having that argument for the last three hundred years all by myself," he nudges her with his shoulder lightheartedly.

"But you didn't have your Tardis."

"Ah! Yes, well, that made it easier to stay... True."

• • •

Peyton slumps against the ornate table opposite Clara while the Doctor and Tasha stare each other down at either end.

"Why did you ever come to Trenzalore?" She questions.

"Well, I did come to Trenzalore , and nothing can change that now," the Doctor says, slouching back in his chair. He picks up his cane where he laid it on the table and points it down at the Mother Superious. "Didn't stop you trying, though, did it?"

"Not me. The Kovarian Chapter broke away," Tasha shakes her head. "They travelled back along your timeline and tried to prevent you ever reaching Trenzalore.

"So that's who blew up my Tardis. I thought I'd left the bath running."

"They blew up your time capsule, created the very cracks in the universe through which the Time Lords are now calling."

"The destiny trap," the Doctor scoffs. "You can't change history if you're a part of it."

"They engineered a psychopath to kill you."

"Totally married her," the Doctor smirks. "I'd never have made it here alive without River Song."

"I'm not interested in changing history, Doctor. I want to change the future. The Daleks send for reinforcements fault, they are massing for war."

Their very name makes Peyton sit up straighter, if sitting in the church that had made their lives hell for years wasn't enough to rattle her, the Daleks are.

"Three days ago they attacked the mainframe itself," Tasha continues.

"They attacked here?" The Doctor frowns.

"How did you stop them?" Clara asks.

"Stop them? It was slaughter," Tasha shakes her head at her.

"Why didn't you call me, I could have helped," the Doctor growls.

"I tried. I died in this room, screaming your name!"

Peyton seizes up. This isn't the first time she's seen Dalek puppets, it's not even the first time she has been kidnapped by one.

"Oh, I died," Tasha Lem looks down at her lap as if only just remembering herself. "It's funny the things that slip your mind."

With a crack, Tasha's head falls forward and everyone else at the table leaps to their feet.

"No! No, no, no, Tasha, no, please, not Tasha, no. Fight it!" The Doctor pleaded.

The priestess sits up stifle and with a twitch of her neck, the blue lense of a Dalek eyestalk protrudes out of her forehead. Peyton dashes back around the table toward the Clara and Doctor.

"Tash, fight it!" The Doctor shouts again.

The ornate wooden doors burst open to reveal three Daleks, moving swiftly into the room.

"Step away from the Dalek unit, Doctor!" One of them barks.

"You shouldn't even know who I am," the Doctor glares at them as Peyton grabs Clara, putting herself in front of the brunette.

"Information concerning the Doctor and his Apprentice was harvested from the cadaver of Tasha Lem."

"Bet she never told you how to break the Trenzalore force field, through," The Doctor stares them down. "She would have died first."

"Several times."

"Well," the Doctor spits, disgust lacing his tone. "You'd better kill be then, but before you do..."

He points his sonic up toward the roof. A quick buzz from the device is quickly followed by the booming transmission, echoing around the chamber.

_"Doctor who? Doctor who?"_

"I'm a tough old bird," the Doctor continues. "I'll be ages dying. Way enough time to answer a question. And, oh, dear, what happens then, boys?"

"You will die in silence, Doctor. Or your Apprentice and your associate will die."

Something prickles the back of Peyton's neck, paralysing her entire body. She hears Clara gasp beside her as she registers Tasha's cold hand resting against her Carotid artery in her neck.

"Fine, go on," the Doctor says nonchalantly. "Kill them, kill them both. See if I care! But tell me, what are you going to do next?"

"See how the Time Lord betrays," the Dalek says, pointing its eye stalk toward Clara and Peyton.

"You'll kill us anyway," Peyton struggles, her voice coming out scratchy and broken. "What difference does it make? We're not afraid, I'll leave that to you."

"You see, Tasha, that's what I'm talking about!" The Doctor turns to them, using his cane to hobble Tasha's way. "That is a woman! I always knew you were a bit spineless, you and your pointless church! Why did I ever rely on you? Never trust a nun to do a Doctor's work."

Peyton is thrown to the floor with Clara as she hears Dalek lasers being fired over their heads.

She scrambled onto her back to see Tasha firing at the three Daleks, fighting the very parasitical protocols inside her body. The Doctor was just rolling her up, getting the remains of the real Tasha to emerge.

"And she's back!" The Doctor exclaims before grabbing her by the neck and kissing her. "You never could resist a row."

"Kiss me when I ask," she warns.

"Well, you'd better ask nicely-"

"Doctor," Peyton groans as she gets to her feet, helping Clara to steady herself as well. "Enough with the flirting!"

"An old man has got to have hobbies," the Doctor says smugly, straightening his bow tie.

"Right," Peyton ignores him, looking to Tasha, trying to avoid staring at the open but bloodless wound where her eyes talk had retracted. "Can you get us back to the Tardis? I assume they weren't the only Daleks on this ship."

"Yep, but quickly," Tasha says, marching over to her teleport. "But quickly, the Dalek inside me is waking."

"Fight it," the Doctor says, close behind her.

She throws open the curtains to the teleport before glaring up at him. "I can't."

"Listen to me," he says as Clara and Peyton catch up to the two. "You have been fighting the psychopath inside of you all your life. Shut up and win. That is an order, Tasha Lem."

Peyton grabs Clara by the forearm and pushes her inside the teleport first before jumping in behind her.

"The force field will hold for a while, but it will decay, and there are breaches already," Tasha advises.

"Then this isn't a siege any more, it's war," the Doctor's voice carries through the teleport.

• • •

"It's done," the Doctor says as he fiddles with the console.

"What's done?" Clara asks.

"The turkey, either that or it's woken up."

Clara laughs before skipping over to the stairs. "You want some?"

"Go on, then," the Doctor chuckles.

"Peyton, come help me," Clara waves her over. "Got any plates."

"Do you know what, I've even got Christmas crackers!"

"You go, I'll be there in a sec," Peyton nods to Clara and waits until she has disappeared below the console before marching up to the Doctor.

"Yes?" He mutters.

"Give me those big sad eyes, look at me so I know you aren't lying," she says softly. "And tell me you will never send me away again. Clara maybe, but I'm not some fragile companion. You and I have gone through too much together for you to just leave me on earth. You _know_ that I don't belong there."

"Peyton Barrett," he sighs. "I will never send you away again."

Peyton smiles, staring into his eyes. He seems sincere, and surely he would never do anything to harm her, he knows that being on Earth without him would kill her.

"Peyton!" Clara calls from under the console, feigning annoyance. "Are you coming or not?"

"Turkey smells good," Peyton replies as she makes her way down the stairs.

"Yep, perfect!" Clara says, opening the compartment and gazing down into it.

Peyton trots over as Clara reaches in with gloved hands to pull the bird out. As she strains slightly under its weight, Peyton crouches down next to her, ready to intervene if anything goes wrong.

Clara giggles excitedly before looking up at Peyton. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Peyton responds with her own smile.

Together, they walk up to the console to see an empty flight deck.

"Doctor?" Peyton calls out. No response.

"We must have already landed," Clara says. "I think I heard us land."

"Yeah," Peyton mumbles, pretty sure she heard that too.

Peyton leads them over to the Tardis doors and steps out, bracing for the cold of the sleepy town but stumbles when she feels the sun hitting her skin.

Tall grey apartment buildings lean against a patchy blue and grey sky, a chilling breezes racing around them.

The slam of the Tardis door behind her makes her look back over her shoulder at a confused Clara and a slowly fading police box.

This time, Peyton does nothing, she doesn't kick, she doesn't scream, she just watches, her mouth slightly ajar as she realises that the Doctor lied to her. The worst part is, she's not surprised.

"Peyton," Clara whispers. "Are you okay?"

Peyton doesn't say anything but marches off in the other direction.

"Peyton!" Clara screams after her. "Peyton! Where are you going!"

"I'm going to U.N.I.T, I'm going to get that ruddy vortex manipulator and I'm going to give the Doctor a hell of a scolding."

"Do you even know where Trenzalore is? The coordinates!?"

Peyton stops and turns back to Clara, twenty feet away now, still holding that damn turkey in her arms.

"No." She admits.

"And even if you did, you know that's locked up for a reason, Kate won't let you take it."

"Well sod Kate!" Peyton cries marching back to Clara. "Sod Trenzalore, sod Christmas, and sod the Doctor."

Peyton collapses onto her knees, taking fistfuls of the grass in her hands and sob quietly. "He lied to me, he always lies to me," she whimpers.

"Come up and have some Turkey, Peyton," Clara says kindly. "I know that it's not going to fix anything but you don't have to be alone right now."

Peyton looks up, Clara's eyes are filled with hurt too, it wasn't just Peyton that the Doctor had lied to.

"No," a Peyton wipes her eyes with the back of her hands. "Thank you, but no."

"I'll give you a call later then," Clara says kindly. "Come on, up you get."

• • •

Peyton sits outside of Claras apartment in the end. She regrets not going inside with Clara but feels too awkward to knock. So she sits, looking out over the football field where they had been abandoned, her legs dangling off the edge of the concrete walkway, poking between the iron bars of the balustrade, and eating the bag of crisps she had bought from a nearby Tesco. Merry Christmas to her.

When she was a kid, she would spend her Christmases with her Mum and Dad, and Amy and her aunt would come over around lunchtime to celebrate too. Well, they did in one version of reality. Even for Peyton, keeping both timelines straight in her head was an ordeal. They'd eat Turkey and Yorkshire puddings, her Dad would bake an apple pie every year and cut wonderful Christmas designs in the crust. It was nothing extravagant, but she ached for it right about now. Maybe she could visit them today? If she caught a train now, she'd probably be home around six.

Her train of thought is cut of by the groaning and wheezing sound of the Tardis.

Suddenly, she sees it, sitting just where it had left them, the Tardis.

She scrambles to her feet and dashes down the concrete steps, the sound of Clara's door opening behind her.

"Have you been there the whole time?" Clara calls after her.

"No!" Peyton lies as she slows down a little to let Clara catch up.

"You could have just come inside you idiot," Clara smiles at her fondly.

Peyton shakes her head and together they continue running out toward the Tardis.

Peyton snaps her fingers and the door falls open for them, welcoming them inside but as the two tumble into the time machcine, it's Tasha Lem they see not the Doctor

"You can fly the Tardis?" Clara frowns.

"Flying the Tardis was always easy. It was flying the Doctor I never quite mastered."

The scar on her head is still nasty but seems to have been undisturbed for quite some time. How long has it been?

"What's happened to him?" Peyton asks, her voice shaking.

• • •

As Peyton and Clara enter clock tower, Clara clutching her Christmas cracker and Peyton repeating Tasha's words on a cycle in her head.

_"He shouldn't die alone."_

The explosions and gunfire outside seem to dim more than expected once they enter the Doctor's new home. He must have set something up around him to drown out the noise.

Peyton spots a man sitting by a desk, whittling away at a small wooden dog, working by the light of the crack in the wall. The Doctor.

"Barnable?" He calls out, his voice frail and quavering.

"Peyton," she says.

The wooden toy drops from his grip as the Doctor turns around to look up at them.

His hair, now white, has receded back from his forehead and now reaches the collar of his coat. Perched upon his nose are Amy's reading glasses.

His skin is like paper, crumpled and wrinkled under the weight of all those years he played sheriff, protecting the town and fixing toys.

"Hello, Doctor," Clara whispers.

The Doctor removes the glasses from his face slowly as he continues to stare at the tow of them. "Were you both always so young?"

"Nah," Clara shakes her head. "That was you."

He reaches both his hands out towards his companions and they both arrive at his side, taking a hand each.

The Doctor presses his lips to both of their hands in turn, never ceasing to look up at them in awe.

Peyton tries to speak, but she can't think of the words. She's angry that he left her there, sure, but so many years have passed for him, he seems so elated to seek them both again. How can she be mad at a frail old man?

"Merry Christmas," Clara says in a hushed voice as the full drone of Dalek voices can be heard outside.

"Merry Christmas," he replies.

Clara crouches down beside his chair and offers him one end of the Christmas cracker.

The Doctor takes it in his frail hand and tugs but his strength isn't what it used to be. His face tightens in frustration but Peyton crouches down on his other side.

"Hey, it's okay," she reassures him, placing a hand over his. "It's fine, don't worry."

She helps him tug until, with a crack, the cracker is pulled apart.

"Ha!" The Doctor smiles. "Is there a joke? Huh?"

The Doctor leans back in his chair as Clara shuffles to sit back, leaning against the Doctors thigh as she opens the small piece of paper from inside the cracker. Peyton folds her arms and rests them on the top of the Doctor's other leg.

"Extract from Thoughts On a Clock by Eric Ritchie Junior," Clara reads.

"Is it a knock knock one? Those are the best."

"I don't think so," Peyton mumbles.

"Well, read it. Go on," the Doctor nods.

"And now it's time for one last bow, like all your other selves. Eleven's hour is over now. The clock is striking twelves."

"I don't get it," the Doctor grumbles as Peyton wipes a tear from her eye with her thumb.

"Doctor!" The voice of a Dalek is projected from the sky, presumably having full control of the Papal Mainframe now. "The Doctor will be brought! The Daleks demand the Doctor!"

"They're here!" A teenage boy barrels into the Doctor's study as Peyton and Clara jump to their feet. "The Daleks, we can't stop them. They want you."

"Oh, all right, Barnable," the Doctor says getting to his feet as his chair groans. "Are you Barnable?"

"No, Doctor," the boy shakes his head.

"It's okay, Barnable, don't worry. I have got a plan. Off you pop."

The boy nods before running off, leaving the Doctor and his companions alone. 

"I haven't got a plan, but people love it when I say that."

"Doctor, what are you going to do?" Peyton says, panic in her voice as the Doctor reaches for his cane.

"Oh, I don't know," he shrugs. "Talk very fast, hope something good happens, take the credit. That's generally how it works."

He plods off, one small step at a time leaving both Peyton and Clara go smacked.

"Doctor," Clara tries.

"Not this time, though. This is it," he sighs.

"No!" Peyton protests.

"Yes," he insists. "We saw the future, Peyton, Clara, this is how it ends. The Tardis will take you both back to Earth before returning here to become my tomb. You two live fantastic lives, for me.

"Change it!" Peyton glares at the back of his head. "Like Tasha said, change the future!"

"I could have once. When there where Time Lords. Not anymore."

Peyton watches as he makes his way to the stairwell where they had climbed to share the sunrise just hours ago for her, how many years has it been for the Doctor?

Clara runs after him but the Doctor holds a finger up to her. "Now, you're going to stay here. Promise me you will. When it's over, Peyton will take you home."

"Why?" Clara asks, tearily. "When what's over?"

"I'll be keeping you safe. One last victory. Allow me that. Give me that..." He pulls Clara in for a hug and waves Peyton over. "My impossible girls," he whispers.

He pulls away from Clara and presses a kiss into Peyton's hair.

"Thank you, and goodbye," he breathes. Before wiping away both of their tears.

Peyton can't think of anything more to say as she watches the Doctor ascend the stairs muttering to himself as he goes.

"The problem with the Daleks," he mumbles. "Is that they take so long to say anything. I'll probably die of boredom before they shoot me."

Clara sobs before burying her face into Peyton's shoulder. The taller woman slowly wraps her arms around her as she continues staring at the place where the Doctor had vanished from sight.

Clara pulls away and storms off to sit in the Doctor's chair, looking around at all the toys as she cries quietly to herself.

Peyton however, find herself staring at the crack.

That crack had been with her for her whole life. Her whole childhood it has loomed over her, it had brought the Doctor to her. It had followed her around the universe and It wiped her best friend out of existence and it had brought him back.

If a message can be sent through one side of the crack, surely one can be sent back.

She marches up to the crack before summoning all the courage she can muster. "Listen to me, you lot, listen! Help him. Help him change the future. Do it! Do something." Peyton crouches down in front of the tear, resting her elbows on her knees and clasping her hands. "You've been asking a question. And it's time someone told you you've been getting ĝ it wrong. His name. His name is the Doctor. All the name he needs. Everything you need to know about him. I am a child of Gallifrey, and you will listen to me... help him. Help him."

Peyton falls back onto her backside, her head hung low. Nothing happened.

"That was beautiful," Clara whispers.

"Mmm, doesn't mean they'll listen."

With a loud scratching sound, the light disappears from in front of them and the crack closes up as if it were never there in the first place.

Peyton scrambles to her feet and looks between Clara and the wall, her eyes blown wide. What had she done?

• • •

"Get inside, get off the street!" Peyton yells at the visitors as the Daleks above double their efforts.

The golden light of the Time Lords lights up the town, outshining the street lamps greatly as the Doctor is surrounding by the very essence of the Time Lord miracle.

She had done it, she had gotten the Time Lords to listen to her, break the rules and allow the Doctor to live again.

Peyton slams the door to the clock tower behind her after Clara and a small crowd of the townspeople flood inside.

The sounds of crumbling buildings, tolling bells and exploding Daleks assault their ears as the Doctor does what he always does... He wins.

• • •

With a hesitant push, Peyton opens the doors of the Tardis as Clara places the phone back in its box. It had taken several minutes for them to shove the tower doors open, debris must have fallen and blocked them in.

The Tardis is empty and dimly lit, the first thing Peyton notices is the clothes strewn everywhere.

Peyton watches as Clara leans over the controls to inspect a bowl of fish fingers and custard. Peyton's lips turn slightly upwards at that.

The clothes seem to lead to the stairs taking them down below the console but just as Peyton steps down, she hears heavy footsteps approaching from the other side of the flight deck.

She turns to see the Doctor, young again, and wearing his familiar outfit. He smiles at the two of them fondly.

"Doctor!" Clara laughs.

"Hello, you two," the Doctor says stiffly.

"You're young again," Peyton frowns.

"He's okay, you're okay," Clara says excitedly. "You didn't even change your face."

"Ha!" The Doctor laugh, clapping his hands together. "It's started. I can't stop it now, this is just the reset. A whole new regeneration cycle, Ooh!" The Doctor walks around the console and grabs the gross desert and lifts it to his lips, slurping up some custard. "It's taking a bit longer. Just breaking it in."

He groans, grabbing the console for support as he walks back around. Peyton notices that he is purposefully putting distance between himself and them.

She'd read about regeneration. That it can be dangerous. In her head, she knows exactly what's about to happen, but to connect it to the Doctor? It doesn't seem to fit.

She watches as he sends the Tardis into the vortex, the machine whirring to life underneath him.

"It all just disappears, doesn't it? Everything you are, gone in a moment, like breath on a mirror. Any moment now, he's-a coming".

"Who's coming?" Clara asks tearfully.

"The Doctor," Peyton says, emotionless, staring ahead at the madman she had loved for so long. He nods at her with his proud smile.

"You... you are the Doctor," Clara insists.

"Yep," he nods with a groan, something paining him inside. "And I always will be." He lifts a hand, glowing gold, up to his eye line. "But times change... and so must I."

The Doctor is distracted by something Peyton does see. She follows his eyes, as he looks up and across the balcony as he follows something not quite there.

"Amelia!" He gasps.

Peyton's hearts stop.

"Who's Amelia?" Clara asks stepping forward but Peyton grabs her arm.

"The first face this face saw," he says. "We all change... when you think about it. We're all different people all through our lives. And that's okay, that's good, you've got to keep moving so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this. Not one day. I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me."

He gets distracted again by his hallucination, lifting a hand up toward the ghost as if he were cupping her face. Peyton's eyes water, wishing he could she what he sees.

The Doctor pulls his hand down before undoing his bow tie and pulling it off slowly before holding it up in front of him. He lets it fall to the floor, the fabric hitting the metal unceremoniously. 

He gives his companions one last smile before he squeezes his eyes tight. The process is painful, he had told her once, every atom being rewritten.

"No, no, no!" Clara cries, tries to run to the Doctor's side but Peyton holds her back, her vision blurring through her tears.

"Hey, it's okay," he whispers.

"Please don't change," Clara whimpers in Peyton's arms.

As if hit by an unseen force, the Doctors arms and head fly backward before righting himself.

Except it's not the Doctor... but it is.

An older man with short curled silver hair, looks back at the two of them, eyes blown wide under two severe eyebrows.

Peyton stumble back in shock as the man stares them down.

The Tardis rumbles and pitches slightly, the regeneration energy must have affected her circuits.

He takes a step closer to them, staring at them curiously before his knees buckle and he grabs his side.

"Kidneys!" He exclaims in a Scottish accent. "I've got new kidneys! I don't like the colour."

"Of your kidneys?" Peyton blinks.

The Tardis pitched more violently this time, sending its occupants stumbling about .

"What's happening?" Clara shouts.

"We're probably crashing! Oh!"

"Into what!" Clara says as Peyton runs around the console to the monitor but the screen has gone dark and nothing she does turns it back on again. This is bad.

"Stay calm," the Doctor instructs, getting to work on the controls, "Just one question. Do either of you know how to fly this thing?"

Peyton launches to work but nothing responds to her touch. He must have fried the systems.

Oh, God.


	50. An Author's Notice

**Hi.**

**I just want to begin by saying how grateful I am for every single one of my readers and especially to those who comment and I get to interact with in that way.**

**So here we are, at the end of three whole seasons of Doctor Who and I'm so happy with how this story is turning out.**

**However, I have good news and bad news. The good news being that I have a character arc planned out for Peyton that lasts until the end of series ten as well as ideas of where her story could go into Whittaker's era. Unfortunately, I have been low on motivation to write for the past month or so and so only have got three quarters of a draft for 'Deep Breath' stored for you all. I have made the hard decision to place this story on a tentative hiatus, something I said I would never do. But hey, mental health first and all that. I've got university and other hobbies as well as so many ideas for writing I'd love to do in other fandoms.**

**So, please know that there will be so much more Peyton and the Doctor coming, I promise you this. I will get bursts of inspiration to write here and there and if you would be so kind to keep this little story of mine in your bookmarks, I would be so honoured.**

**If you want to keep up with my writing, give my profile a follow, I do want to start posting some other stuff, fanfiction, original stories, essays, etc.**

**I make quite a bit of Doctor Who content on my tik tok @gal.isnt.cool if you want to keep up with me there as well. I do a bunch of stuff, but Doctor Who is definitely a headliner.**

**To summarise, I am so thankful for you all and even more so if you want to stick around. I love Peyton Barrett with all my heart and I promise I will return to her story as soon as possible.**


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